A Sword Named Archer
by A Dyslexic Writer
Summary: Nameless Archer reincarnated as a sword.
1. Chapter 1

If forced to make a list of all the most improbable things that had ever happened around him, being snatched out of Moon-Cell and turned into an 'actual' sword might just make it into the Nameless Archer's top ten. Slightly more unlikely then becoming the Servant of a rogue NPC, but definitely not on the level of anything that the Phantasmal Carnival had thrown at him.

Not to say any of those things were unpleasant, just… you know… unlikely.

Saber Lion had been absolutely adorable, and Archer had grown fond of Hakuno over those eight weeks they had spent together. It had been after he had pushed himself to his limit, disobeying Moon-Cell's orders to win the AI girl her freedom that he had felt himself pulled out of the Moon-Cell and the world in general and into an entirely different world.

He would wonder what had the kind of power needed to reach into Moon-Cell and steal a Servant off of its deathbed, but his new ability, [Appraisal], gave him a damn good hint. Looking into his own [Perimeters] Archer saw an unfamiliar trait that seemed to explain everything.

[Blessings of the Chaos Goddess – Shit happens. Survive and grow strong.]

Well, at least this Goddess has a sense of humor, if that message and her turning him into a literal sword was anything to go by.

If there was any consolation to be had, it would be that he was at least a rather good-looking sword, if nothing else. As a broadsword, with a wide shiny blade and a silver cross guard decorated with the visage of a wolf, Archer wouldn't have looked out of place among some of the Noble Phantasms that he had seen. The [Self-Repair] ability seemed to keep him looking as though he had just been freshly polished.

Pity his blade wasn't all that great. Without magical enhancements it was hardly on the level of a grunt weapon. Even if reinforced to its peak, it would barely even compare to the level of a low end of E rank Noble Phantasms, and 200 units of mana was not even half as much as a good magus would have. It was a far cry from the 15000 units he would have had if he was still a Servant.

* * *

Name: Nameless

Wielder Registrant: None

Race: Intelligent Weapon | Heroic Spirit

Attack:132 Mana: 200/200 Durability:100/100 Mana Channel: A

Skills:

Appraisal: Lv6, Self-Repair, Self-Evolving (Rank 1 | Magic Stone Value 0/100 | Memory 10), Telekinesis, Telepathy, Wielder Status ↑ Low, Wielder Recovery ↑ Low, Skill Sharing, Magician.

Unique Skills:

Blessings of the Chaos Goddess

Extra Skills:

Principle of an Element LvEX (Sword), Weapon Control, Independent Action, Clairvoyance, Eye of the Mind (False).

Set Skills:

None.

Stored Skills:

None.

* * *

So no shit there he was, a magic sword stuck in a stone pedestal in the middle of a garden in some ruins, waiting for someone to come and pull him from the stone so that he could make them king or something. Honestly, if a petite blonde girl turns up, Archer wasn't sure if he would ever stop laughing. Though if they are going to turn up, he hopes that they will at least hurry it up. As it turned out, there wasn't much for a sword to do when they were waiting to be pulled out of the stone.

Sighing with boredom, he triggered his telekinesis, grabbed a nearby rock and chunked it, watching it skip across the ground.

Mana: 199/200.

Then he traced a regular sword and shot it at the rock.

Mana: 195/200.

He had been sitting in that bit of stone floor for just a day and had taken the liberty to play around with a few things, just to kill time. Telekinesis was interesting, but costly, draining 1 unit of mana every second. Tracing a single ordinary weapon cost 4 units, which was inline with what he was used to. But rather than a low-level Noble Phantasm costing around 20 units to create, it cost much much more.

As it turned out, being in a world where the legends that act as a base for the Noble Phantasm's power don't exist, Archer had to not only trick the world into believing the sword was really there, but he also had to force it to accept the legend was real as well. Tracing an E rank Noble Phantasm from his old world cost more mana than he had at the moment. He wasn't sure how much it would take, but he ballparked it to being somewhere around 500 units. Same went for any ordinary magic weapon that used religions symbols from his old world.

If he wanted a supply of easy to make magic weapons, he would need to start over from the ground up and copy weapons from this world, create original weapons of his own, or find a way of cheating this world's system even more.

Mana: 196/200… Mana: 197/200… Mana: 198/200.

The regeneration of Mana seemed to be about 1 unit every minute, and he had nothing better to do then just watch it slowly recharge. It had been three whole days since he had first woken up as a sword. While life as an agent of Moon-Cell was hell, it hadn't prepared Archer to deal with long periods of boredom.

Finally, the nearby bushes started to wrestle, gaining Archer's attention. He wondered if whatever poor fool that the Goddess of Chaos had set up to be his wielder had finally shown up. However, he was surprised when rather than a naive youth who was about to start on an epic quest to save the land, because aren't they always, two dozen humanoid monsters with warty green skin appeared, wearing loincloths and bone helmets. The largest of these creatures stood at around six feet tall, while the rest were only around four and a half.

* * *

Goblin King Lv.21

Race: Goblin (Evil Being)

HP: 87, MP: 26, STR: 47, END: 39

AGI: 26, INT: 17, MGC: 16, DEX: 29

Skills:

Coercion: Lv1, Sword Techniques: Lv2, Sword Arts: Lv4, Leadership: Lv4, Raise Morale: Lv3, Shield Arts: Lv2, Provocation: Lv1, Throwing: Lv1, Ambition: Lv1, Energy Manipulation.

Equipment:

Broken Crude-Iron Long Sword, Cracked Crude-Iron Armor, Leather Shield, Leather Loincloth.

* * *

Well it was a King, if not the kind he was expecting. His hat was off to the Goddess of Chaos for subverting his expectations a little.

Not that the creature was going to be able to pull him out of the stone. After all, he was a magic sword, so there was no way that it could…

The Goblin King tossed its broken long sword to the side and grabbed on to Archer's hilt and easily pulled him up out of the stone base. The former servant was so shocked that he didn't know what to do.

"Ah… with this magic sword, I unite the neighboring tribes. I raise up stamped of thousands of Goblins!" The Goblin King shouted to his men and he waved Archer around above his head, much to the delight of the other goblins. "We push down into the valley and take the human villages! We kill and slaughter, steal their weapons and rape their women! We drain their blood into the soil and give homage to our Evil God!"

[...Oh hell no!] Archer growled, using telepathy to rip himself from the goblin's hands before pumping 50 units of mana into sharpening his blade, driving it down into the creature's head and splitting him in two down the middle from the top if his head down into the center of his chest.

Before any of the other goblins had time to react, 23 blades appeared out of thin air and flew straight through their heads, instantly killing them.

[God. I feel so violated.] Archer said, the warmth of the goblin's slimy hands still clinging to his hilt. He would have shivered if that was even feasibly possible. [At least I'm out of that stupid rock now.]

As he mentally adjusted himself to what had just happened, he noticed his blade glow as a foreign mana flowed into him. There had been some kind of stone within the Goblin King's body, and his blade and sliced right into it.

* * *

Self-Evolving (Rank 1 | Magic Stone Value 3/100 | Memory 10)

New Skills Unlocked:

Coercion: Lv1, Sword Techniques: Lv1, Sword Arts: Lv1, Leadership: Lv1, Raise Morale: Lv1, Shield Arts: Lv1, Provocation: Lv1, Throwing: Lv1, Ambition: Lv1, Energy Manipulation.

* * *

Information seeped into Archer's consciousness. Knowledge about how to use these 'skills', which he seemed to have learned by absorbing the mana inside of the crystal that had been in the Goblin King's chest.

[Curious.] Archer thought, glancing around at the other bodies. He wondered if there were more of these crystals and if he could absorb more of these 'skills'. Nothing he had gotten was useful so far, as Archer's own knowledge of weapons and tactics far exceeded what was provided by the skills, but it was something that peaked his curiosity. He also wanted to know what this [Self-Evolving] thing was about.

So as his mana recharged and he could make short trips with his telekinesis, he went to the individual goblins, stabbing them through the chests and harvesting their mana crystals, getting himself such invaluable skills as [Digging], [Dismantling] and [Climbing] and slowly increasing the magic stone meter of his own. He was laughing at the absurdity of the useless skills that couldn't even match up to his own knowledge, when he stabbed into one goblin that was holding a staff and immediately stopped laughing.

* * *

New Skills Unlocked:

Fire Magic: Lv1, MGC ↑ Low, Magic Manipulation.

* * *

…In this world, he had just learned fire magic.


	2. Chapter 2

"Graaa!" The Tyrant Saber Tiger cried out its final roar as Archer drove himself into the demonic beast's chest, penetrating its magic stone and draining it dry of mana. Without mana, the phantasmal creature's life was snuffed out and it fell down dead.

[So much for C rank threats.] Archer said, more than a little disappointed. It had been the most powerful monster he had encountered in his week of exploring the area around the ruins in which he had awaken, but it was just a mindless beast. While its attacks would have certainly snapped him in two if they had landed, it was too easy to predict and couldn't manage a blow on the spirit turned sword.

* * *

Self-Evolving:

(Rank 6 | Magic Stone Value 1895/2100 | Memory 53 | Points 42) → (Rank 7 | Magic Stone Value 2109/2800 | Memory 60 | Points 77)

ATK: 310 → 342 MP: 1375 → 1550 Durability: 1300 → 1450 Mana Channel: A

New Skills Unlocked:

Vibration Impact, Vibration Fang.

Skills Leveled:

Intimidate: Lv4 → Lv5, Wind Magic Lv2 → Lv3, Hunting Lv5 → Lv6.

* * *

[Hm…] Archer pondered as he sorted through the skills that started to trickle into his mind. Vibration Impact seemed to be a method for focusing one's magical energy around their attacks into a wave that could better penetrate the body and deal internal damage. Kind of like an overpowered microwave generator, one strong enough to rip through muscle with ease. The vibrations could also be focused into a blade in order to make it act more like a chainsaw, though with a high cost to durability. Interesting.

After finding out that he could absorb magical skills by killing these Demonic Beasts, Archer started to hunt them down. He felt justified in doing so, as most of them were active threats to humanity in some form or another. Others even attacked him on sight, and if you are so battle crazed as to attack a flouting sword on sight, then you kind of deserve what's coming to you.

Things had started out pretty slow for the former Servant, as he couldn't use his telekinesis for more than a minute for every hour of rest, but during his second day he got his first big break through. A sort of flouting jellyfish that possessed two key skills, the first being [Flout], which when combined with [Telekinesis] allowed Archer to get around on just one fifth of his old cost, while the second, [Mana Drain: Lv1], allowed him to recover Mana at a much higher rate and let him steal it from the enemies he killed. [Mana Drain] was the first skill that Archer actually spent points leveling up, just because of how useful it was.

While his Skills could level up by consuming more of that same skill, he could also level them up by spending the Evolution-Points he received each time he increased in Rank from gathering magic stone. It cost 2 points per level for normal skills, 3 per level for rarer skills, 5 in order to upgrade a non-level-based skill, and 10 for a rare non-level-based skill. He could also buy other skills for 5-10 points.

He gained five times his rank every time he ranked up. Though so far, he had only used 58 points. 18 on maxing out [Mana Drain], 8 on increasing [Appraisal] to its max level, and 5 more to purchase a skill called [Demonic Beast Knowledge], which granted him knowledge of the weak points of all the Demonic Beasts he came across, as well as where in their bodies their magic stones were. It also gave him a ranking for each monster, though Archer didn't know their significance. Still, information was key, so both [Appraisal] and [Demonic Beast Knowledge] were musts.

Ranking [Mana Drain] up to max level had also unlocked [Mana Thief], which could steal mana from everyone and thing around Archer. Just by leaving it on and drawing Mana out of the air, Archer could basically half the cost of flouting around. Though he hadn't leveled the new skill up, as most of his Mana Problems were already taken care off by this point.

The final skill that Archer had invested his points into was called [Body Split], which cost him 27 points to max out. He had gotten the skill from a giant serpent that was capable of creating perfect body doubles, and the skill was supposed to allow Archer to do the same. However, when Archer started to mess with the skill, he found to his delight that it gave a lot more leeway than it sounded and provided a lot of exploits.

For one, it didn't necessarily have to be his current form that was copied. Granted, his first attempt to recreate his Servant body was met with absolute failure, as the mana cost was just too stupidly high for him to do such a thing yet. Even creating a body that had half of his old perimeters cost more than 4000 mana, and that was just the overhead cost. However, he could use the skill to recreate any of his Noble Phantasms for a fraction of the price of tracing them, with the only drawback being that he could only sustain a Noble Phantasm form for one tenth of the time of his normal sword form.

The skill was only supposed to last 5 minutes, times the skill's level, but because of Archer's [Independent Action] ability, it became 1 hour, times its level, and the passive cost was decreased from 1 mana a second to 1 mana every 30 seconds. Meaning that at its max level it lasted for 10 hours and its cost was mostly mitigated by Mana Thief. During this time, Archer could control it and use any [Skill] he possessed through it.

Beyond that, when he recreated his current sword form with it, that form with start with its Mana at full, similar to the cheat method he had used when tracing. While his copy only had 80% of his stats, it meant that he could spend 100 units of Mana and get over 1000 units back. And Mana could be shared between the bodies, greatly increasing his storage capacity. If he was running low, he could create and absorb the body double in order to fill himself right back up in an instant. Though the [Skill] could only be used once every 24 hours, the timer could be rest by leveling the skill up… not that he could do that anymore.

[Body Split] had drastically increased his hunting speed, as he could literally be in two places at once.

Beyond that, Archer was holding off on his investments. Many of the skills he was getting were useful, and he wanted to see them strengthened, but he had the feeling that he should wait and see. He didn't know how long he would continue to rank up. He might be allowed to rank up to 100, in which case he would have all the points he could really need. But what if it maxed out sooner, like at 10. Those points might be a nonrenewable resource, and if he could level up his skills by just hunting more monsters that possess the same skill, then why waste? He should just save the points for rarer and more valuable skills.

That had been half the reason he had tried to hunt the 'Gourmet Orcs' to extinction, as they had commonly had fire magic. The second reason was because the [Demonic Beast Knowledge] skill said they cooked people.

He had managed to raise his [Fire Magic] skill all the way up to its max level by killing those guys, unlocking [Flame Magic: Lv1] as a result. Sadly, no matter how many of them he killed, it didn't raise the [Flame Magic] skill any… and he killed a lot of them. Though after casting its [Flame Burst] spell a few hundred times, it leveled up to Lv2.

It seemed that some skills could be leveled through just using them a bunch. Must be how normal creatures in this world get their skills. [Sword Art] and [Sword Technique] also increased rather fast due to this. Not that Archer really cared that much for [Sword Art], since his own swordsmanship far outstripped it even at Lv8. [Sword Technique Lv7] provided some interesting pseudo spells, such as a technique that momentarily created a blade made of condensed magic somewhere within 5 meters of him and then shot it. Less useful than tracing to him, but it meant that he couldn't be completely dismissive of the skill.

Archer tossed the Tyrant Saber Tiger into his [Dimensional Storage], another infinitely useful skill he gained from killing a giant slime monster, and continued on his way.

He couldn't exactly say why he was storing away the corpses of the enemies he killed, perhaps it was just that when you are given a giant four-dimensional pocket, you just start to shovel stuff into it, just to see if you can fill it up. To not do so would be a crime.

He had been moving further and further away from the ruins where he had first woken up, though he had been mostly wandering around aimlessly. There was no point in staying in that place for long, since it didn't seem like any Heroes in need of a legendary weapon were around, Archer might as well just go and slay evil by himself… all alone.

Loneliness was one of the things that Archer hadn't expected to have to deal with. He had been used to pushing people away. Even when he had been That Man, the 'Hero of Justice' who's name even he himself had forgotten, Archer hadn't really ever made time for the people around him, not even the ones he loved. It was the reason why She betrayed him in the end, because She couldn't believe that he loved her. Not that he blamed her. When even that woman thought that he had gone too far and that he had lost all his humanity, it was probably true. Like with everyone else in his original life, he couldn't quite remember her name, just a face which granted him a sense of happy nostalgia.

But those eight weeks spent with Hakuno had made him feel more accustomed to having someone around. Even if that someone was about as good at displaying emotion as a dead fish. The NPC turned girl had been like a curious child, growing into a very harsh and cruel world, and while Archer would admit that he had found her lack of skill and general naivety annoying at first, he had grown fond of his unusual Master as she gained more skill and displayed more cunning. To not having her presence, with her curious, nonjudging, blank stare…

Don't know what you got till it's gone.

Flying over the forest, he had spotted what looked a little like a dirt road snaking through the trees and had decided to follow it, hoping to find some kind of civilization. He wasn't so sure what he would do once he found it, since normal people might be a little freaked out by a magical flying sword, but it would be nice to at least know it was there.

[Hm? That's strange, my Mana is lowering rather fast.] Archer said, noticing that he wasn't drawing in Mana as fast as he usually was. He still had quite a bit, but if he got into a fight with low mana, it might make things hairy for him. Better to just rest and continue when he was back at full power. So Archer let himself sink down with his tip pushing lazily into the ground… and then slid down like a rock as his Mana was sucked dry and his Telekinesis disappeared. [What the hell!?] Archer shouted to himself, trying desperately to call up enough Mana to pull himself free before it was too late.

It was no good, his mana levels hit 0 before he could escape.

[…Great.] Archer said with a disgruntled sigh. [Guess I am stuck playing the waiting game again.]


	3. Chapter 3

You know when Archer complained about boredom after being stuck in a stone alter for three days? He took it all back.

It had been over three weeks since he had 'accidentally' landed it when appeared to be mana draining soil. Three weeks of not even having thumbs to twiddle. He hadn't even had to wait this long for his execution.

Seriously, there was a dirt road just thirty feet away from him, why the hell had no one shown up let? Archer wouldn't complain if another goblin came around to pull him out. He might even spare that one out of gratitude.

Even worse, while as a Servant one didn't need to sleep, as a sword it was literal impossible to. Archer was so bored that he opted to try to count the swords in his Unlimited Blade Works and spent a massive amount of time pondering the truths of this World.

He had in those few days of freedom gathered quite a few different forms of magecraft. Fire Magic, Wind Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Recovery Magic, Oath Magic, Contract Magic, Summon Familiar, Purification Magic. More than fifty individual spells in all. However, rather than knowing the mechanics behind the spells, all Archer knew was the words that needed to be chanted in order to activate them, and how to shape the mana. He didn't understand how they worked or even what some of them even did, and he was fairly certain that the monsters he took them from hadn't really known any better than he had. The world itself was providing them with the ability, even without them having any understanding to act as a base.

It was obnoxious, because it meant that he couldn't modify or create his own spells. But then again, how many years of research would it usually take to learn so many spells? Some of them were the kind that a Caster might have in their personal arsenal for quick use. The magus of his old world would probably accuse him of getting everything handed to him on a silver platter. He had gone from being compatible with just his own unique magecraft to being able to use all the basic elements and then some.

It was just like when he was starting out, copying weapons of legendary figures and stealing their fighting styles. He had knowledge of all their work, but his own skills and muscles lagged behind, making it far less effective. Only in this world it was even weirder, as every goblin with lv1 [Sword Art] had the exact same fighting style.

Archer could imagine thousands of ways to take advantage of the holes in the [Sword Art] style, up to the 7th level using nothing but basic kendo skills common to the average high school club. If understood, no one who depends on the [Skill] would be an actual threat. Not without such overwhelming physical parameters as to make fighting them impossible. The giving of the knowledge was presented as a sort of blessing, but in reality, it was creating a ceiling. One could only get as far as [Sword Art] would take them, because depending on it to grow would rob them of the kind of outlook required to grow even further.

Archer wondered if the humans of this world realized that, if there were any humans. He actually hadn't seen a single human since he had arrived, but the Goblin King had said something about human settlements. For all he knew, what he took for a dirt road was really just a trail made by a passive monster, and no one ever really came this way.

...God he was bored.

[Hey, Goddess of Chaos. You brought me here to entertain you, didn't you? Well, are you entertained by seeing me just sitting here in the ground?] Archer throw out into the void, hoping to get some kind of response.

Perhaps his attempt to provoke fate worked, because he started to hear something coming.

It was faint at first, but it quickly grew louder. The sounds of a wagon coming his way.

[Thank you, Goddess.]

He was in luck, the wagon was taking the bend far too quickly. When it tried to take the turn, it would hit that lump in the road and get overturned right in front of him.

And so it was, just as Archer predicted. The wagon was overturned, pouring out both items and people, including a seriously obess middle aged man who was dressed like a merchant, a thin and short driver… and over a dozen men and women wearing metal collars around their necks.

Archer was momentarily dumbfounded at the sight of all of those slaves, dressed in what could generously be called rags. Even in the position that he was in, he had no trouble identifying the magic on the slave collars, which would force the people to do whatever they were told.

Even though they were injured from the fall, they got up when the fat man ordered them to and quickly got to work trying to pick up the various objects that had been dumped out. Those whose injuries were too great to allow them to obey gave out cries of pain as they were punished for their disobedience.

But as the two free men tried to motivate the slaves to work faster, the reason for their haste became known. A massive two-headed bear came from the trees and started to charge towards the group.

With proper motivation, the slaves managed to get the wagon back up on its wheels and the items back inside of it. But the bear was faster than the horse drawn wagon.

"Slaves, hold it back!" The merchant shouted at the slave, who all froze in shock, before their collars forced them to obey.

The weaponless and defenseless slaves stood there ground… waiting to be eaten so that their master could escape. Despite the Bear only having a threat level of F class, the slaves were helpless before it, and Archer could do nothing but watch as they were ripped apart one by one. Each of them crying and cursing their fate.

He wanted to call out to them. He wanted to help them. But without mana, he could do nothing but sit there and watch. And as he watched, he made a silent oath never to try to taunt a God into action again.

But as many of the slaves stood there to face their deaths, one of them acted differently.

A young girl, no more than twelve years old, with black hair and eyes, as well as a cat's ears and tail. She was dirty and dangerously thin. She had scraps over much of her body, likely from being beaten. She looked as though she was already half dead, and her face was slack, as if lacking emotion.

But there was a will in her eyes. A will to survive.

She had noticed Archer and had moved towards him, unimpeded by the slave collar, as her orders were to 'hold back' the bear, not necessarily to allow herself to be eaten.

She grabbed onto Archer's hilt and pulled… but the sword didn't so much as budge. She tried again and again as the cries of the rest of the slaves were silenced, one after another, until only this girl remained.

Then, the bear's eyes fell on her. It's twin-heads snarling as blood dripped from its mouths, though the monster seemed to be in no hurry.

Time was running out, and the child's desperate tugs started to get weaker and weaker.

[Don't give up! There is still time!] Archer shouted at the girl, managing to project his limited telepathy the few inches between them.

"...A voice?" The child said, her tone flat as she looked around for the source.

[Pull me out of the ground! Hurry!]

"A talking sword? Surprising." She said, though she didn't sound surprised at all.

[Be surprised later! If you want to live, pull now!] Archer urged the child. [Pull me out, and I promise that I will save you!]

The girl nodded and dug in her heels, putting all her weight behind getting Archer's blade to budge, and after a long, hard push, it slowly did.

Archer's blade slide free from the ground. The girl pulled him to the side, though her arms were too weak to properly lift him, and free as Archer was from the dirt, he was still without any mana.

* * *

Name: Nameless

Age: 12

Race: Black Catkin

Job: None

Status: Enslaved, Malnutrition

Level: 4/45

HP: 29, MP: 17, STR: 13, END: 10, AGI: 16, INT: 8, MGC: 7, DEX: 15

Skills: Sword Arts: Lv1, Night Vision, Directional Sense, Hunger Resistance: Lv3, Cold Resistance: Lv2, Exhaustion Resistance: Lv2

Titles: None

Equipment: Old Rags

* * *

Level 4 and [Sword Arts] level 1. It wasn't much, but the girl still some kind of fighter.

[Listen carefully. I need you to equip me.] Archer told the girl.

"I do have you equipped." She replied.

[Not good enough. Imagine it going deeper.]

The girl nodded and focused herself.

(Registered wielder: Nameless)

All of the Skills that Archer had been hoarding transferred to the girl, giving her more combat knowledge and strength.

(Nameless has received Multiple Titles)

* * *

Name: Nameless

Age: 12

Race: Black Catkin

Job: None

Status: Enslaved, Malnutrition

Level: 4/45

HP: 49, MP: 37, STR: 39, END: 30, AGI: 36, INT: 28, MGC: 27, DEX: 35

Shared Skills: Sword Arts: Lv7, Fire Magic: LvMax, Flame Magic: Lv1, Cooking: LvMax, Dismantling: LvMax, Digging: LvMax, ...

Titles: Fire Mage, Lord of Cooking, Lord of Dismantling, Lord of Digging, Skill Collector, Incarnation of the Sword, Favoured of the Goddess of Chaos

Equipment: Nameless, Old Rags

* * *

Equipping Archer had given the girl +20 to all her stats due to a [Wielder ALL ↑ Low] Skill, with an extra boost to her STR from a [STR ↑ Low] he had picked up somewhere, which over doubled her stats.

She also gained sixty Skills of varying levels of usefulness through Archer's [Skill Sharing] ability. She seemed to have gained titles for Archer's maxed out skills, that increased the effectiveness of the related Skills, and Skill Collector increased the ease by which one could gain new Skills and level up existing ones.

As for 'Incarnation of the Sword', it increased the rate by which one could level up any weapon based Skill, and 'Favoured of the Goddess of Chaos' granted a dramatic increase in luck while raises the chance of randomly getting into trouble with both monsters and people… What?

Something to worry about later.

With her strength increased and her [Sword Arts] boosted, the girl managed to pick up Archer and stand in what was a pretty decent stance… only her body was still too weak from fatigue.

As the bear attacked her, she less than gracefully moved out of the way, as that was about the most she could do.

Archer needed to do something to restore her stamina, but he didn't have any mana.

...He could drain her mana to do it.

No, that would be counterproductive. Any stamina he managed to restore would have came at the price of her own energy, leaving them back where they started.

But there was no mana in the air, and they couldn't get close enough to the bear to steal its mana without risking injury.

Then it hit him.

[Girl, raise me to your slave collar!] Archer instructed her.

"Nn." She said with a nod, lifting Archer's body up to the metal collar.

As soon as he came into contact with it, he immediately used [Mana Drain] to suck all of the mana that was being used to fuel the contract out of the girl's collar. Once it was all gone, the collar crumbled away into nothing.

Normally, breaking the collar would have killed the slave, however, as Archer had drained away all the power the contract had, it had no means by which to execute her.

(Nameless's 'Enslaved' status has been lifted.)

"I'm… free?" The girl said, still somehow managing to sound monotone about it as she continued to move away from the bear's attacks.

Archer wasn't listening though. He was too busy trying to make things work.

He only had 11 MP to work with, so he had to make it count.

He quickly spent 6 Evolution Points to level up his Recovery Magic Skill to level 5, gaining some spells that were handy for the situation, and could be cast for cheap; 'Lesser Heal' and 'Stamina Heal'.

The scraps and bruises one the child's body disappeared and her physical strength returned to its normal levels.

With her body recovered, her movements became much more elegant and her eyes became sharper. As the bear charged her, its two heads snapping wildly, she spotted an opening and made her move.

The Demonic Beast gave out a gasp as its heart was pieces in a single fluid strike. Archer's blade sinking into the mana crystal contained within and consuming it in an instant. The Twin-Headed Bear collapsed to the ground, dead.

"...Eh?" The girl said dumbly as she stared at the creature.

[Congratulations, you killed it.] Archer said to the girl.

"Nn... Is that thanks to you?" The girl asked, holding up Archer in order to look more closely at him.

[In a way, but I am just a sword. It was you who wielded me. You did very well.]

"Thank you." After saying so, the girl prepared to put me back into the ground, so Archer stopper her in a hurry.

[Wait! Don't put me back into the ground!] Archer managed to say before she finished the action. [The ground here has been draining me of my mana. Because of it, I can't do anything. So, would you mind taking me with you instead?]

"Nn..." The girl said with a nod of her head. She was still expressionless, but Archer had the impression that she was happy about it. Though soon enough, her eyes did go to the other slaves, the ones lying dead in the road.

It felt wrong to just leave them there...

[...I suppose I could stand having my blade put in the soil a little longer.] Archer said with a sigh, it wasn't like he had any mana at the moment anyways. So he told the girl to go ahead and use him like a shovel.

Between the max leveled digging Skill that he got from killing so many Goblins, and the Lord of Digging title, it didn't take long for them to dig graves for the fallen slaves.

Then, they were rewarded for their good deed. The Slave Traders had came back to see if they could salvage any more of their lost cargo.

The child seemed excited to see them return. Apparently, she had been trying to kill them for a long time, but the slave collar had always stopped her.

Well, there was no slave collar now.

She slashed off their heads and left their bodies to the beasts. Taking the horse, wagon and whatever materials they had with them, the girl and Archer rode off into the sunset, leaving that cursed forest behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a pleasant enough ride, once Archer had taught the girl how to guide the horse properly. She seemed to be enjoying her new found freedom, as far as Archer could tell. She didn't really emote much, and her most common reply to questions was 'Nn', but Archer didn't mind. It was even a little nostalgic.

[Do you know where this road leads?] Archer asked the girl.

"Nn." She replied, which Archer took as a negative.

[Me neither. Suppose we will find out though.] Archer said with a mental shrug of the shoulders. [How about plans for the future? Anywhere you wanted to go now you got your freedom back?]

"Nn… Nn." She thought about it for a moment, but ultimately replied with a negative.

[I suppose that means were are both just a couple of drifters. I haven't decided on any path for myself either. I'm rather new to these lands.] Archer said, keeping up the almost one sided conversation.

"Nn, we can travel together." The girl said tightening her grip on the horse's reins. "I'd like to stay with you."

[Hm? I'm not opposed, but why would a girl like you want to be with a sword like me?] Archer asked the girl.

"I want to… I will fight and become stronger." She told him, seeming determined about it. "I will break through the wall."

[...What do you mean by 'break through the wall'?] Archer asked, getting more and more curious.

It turned out to be quite the story, though the child's odd behavior made it take awhile for her to explain, but they had time.

Beastkin, like the girl, seem to be a species that evolves, much like Demonic Beasts. The conditions for this evolution varied depending on the Race, but evolved Beastkin receive respect from their people.

However, the vast majority of Beastkin die without being able to evolve. There seems to be a great difference between Beastkin who had evolved, and those who hadn't.

The Black Catkin, which is the Race of the girl, hadn't had a single known case of evolution throughout all of history. Because of this, they were treated like inferior beings among the Beastkin.

The girl's parents also pursued evolution, hoping to prove that their race was not worthless, but ran out of strength in the middle of their adventure. After the parents passed on, the girl caught the eyes of Slave Traders, and was captured. Even so, she wished to continue her parents' dream of being the first Black Catkin to achieve evolution.

[Interesting.] Archer said, as he considered the girl.

She was calm, but determined. Her earlier actions against the bear and the slavers had shown her willingness to fight and do whatever it took. Archer couldn't help but think that the girl would have made a good master. She reminded him of Hakuno, in many ways, and not just because of her mostly blank expressions. Even though she had only just 'equipped' him that day, he was already starting to feel attached.

Now that he thought about it, the connection that existed between them was similar to the one between a Servant and their Master. Though it was a much more willing contract that could be broken by either party at any time.

It was something that helped Archer make up his mind. It wasn't like going around alone as a sword was going to do him any good anyways.

[Well, I'm not sure if I can help you evolve, but I can certainly make a warrior out of you.]

"Really?" The girl asked, perking up for once.

[Of course. It is only natural that a weapon like myself would assist their Master in achieving their goals.]

"Master?" She repeated, as if surprised by the word, even if her tone remained the same.

[That's right. I, the Servant Archer, have decided that you are my new Master.] Archer said. [For your goals I will fight. I am your sword.]

"...Thank you." The girl said with a small nod of her head. "Your name: Archer?"

[My name? People have called me Archer. It's more of my class than a real name, but it works.]

"Don't you have a real name?" The girl pressed.

[No. I don't. My kind are created uses the souls of old heroes as blueprints, but no one could remember the name of the man I was fashioned after. So I am nameless.] Archer explained.

"...Can I name you?"

[...It is a very kind offer, but I would rather you didn't. While I can't remember what my name was, I still take pride in who I was. Simply taking on a new name will feel wrong to me.] Archer said, gently turning down the girl's offer for a name.

"Oh…" She seemed to be a little disappointed, but she nodded her head in understanding.

[What about you? What happened to your name?] Archer asked the child.

"...They take our names away when we become slaves. Normally, our masters pick our new names." She explained to Archer. "I lost mine when I was eight."

So, she was a slave for four years, and she was still so rebellious. This one was a fighter. [Well, you aren't a slave anymore. You are free to go back to your old name if you'd like. ...Unless you have forgotten it.]

"Nn. I remember it." The girl said with a shake of her head. "My name was Fran."

(Wielder's name changed: Fran)

[Well then Fran. I look forward to our partnership together.] Archer said cheerfully.

"Nn. Looking forward to it, Archer."

[You can pull the wagon off the road here.]

"Nn?"

[You said you want to become strong, didn't you? Well then, before we start fighting monsters, I would like to make sure that you are ready to fight.] Archer said, a bit cheekily. [I hope you are ready for it, Master. I will push you hard.]

"Nn!" Fran nodded her head, visibly excited for what was to come.

Archer hoped she would keep that enthusiasm.

* * *

They went a good distance off of the road before stopping in a clearing and letting the horse go. They didn't really have the means to keep the animal, so Fran released it into the wild, hoping that it would somehow manage on its own.

Then, after a quick meal, they got to work. Archer asked her to show off some of the basic forms, which she performed easily, with the help of the level 7 [Sword Arts] Skill.

[Well, you have the basic forms down.] Archer said, though he was disappointed by how rigid her body was while performing them. It was just as he thought, her body and mind were still not used to it, but that would change. [I suppose we should try some basic sparring then.]

"Sparring? With who?" Fran asked, but rather than answering, Archer just activated the [Body Split] Skill, using Fran's body as a blueprint. Moments later, a copy of Fran was standing right in front of the original, only with silver hair and eyes and darkened skin. "Wow." Fran said, though her face didn't seem all that surprised.

"Don't worry, it is just one of the Skills I have." Archer said rolling the copies shoulders and stretching as he got used to the body. "I only have around 80% of your stats, but that should be fine." Archer then traced a wooden practice sword and smiled over at Fran. "I'm ready whenever you are. Don't be worried about holding back. Even if this body is destroyed, I won't be hurt."

Fran nodded and lifted Archer's sword body, ready to fight.

* * *

"Ugh…" Fran mumbled unintelligibly as she stared up at the sky.

It had been three hours since the sparring began and she was completely out of it.

She would have collapsed completely after just ten minutes of fighting, but Archer had kept her on her feet with Recovery Magic, replenishing her stamina whenever it started to run low and healing her bruises.

No matter what happened, she kept going, persevering long after most people would have just given up, but eventually, the mental fatigue added up and she just couldn't keep going. Considering how long her day had already been, her mental stamina was incredible for her age.

The girl showed tremendous improvement in those three hours. Her movements were becoming much more natural, her predictions and reflexes were faster. The power that she was borrowing from Archer was quickly becoming hers. Watching it all gave the old sword a sense of nostalgia, as if he was watching his own development.

Not only was she becoming better at using her borrowed Skills, her own natural level of the [Sword Arts] Skill was on the rise, and had gone from level 1 to level 4, and she had unlocked her first level of [Sword Technique]. It appeared as though by training at a level that was above her natural 'Skill' level, she was growing far more rapidly. The process was also sped up by the 'Skill Collector' and 'Incarnation of the Sword' titles.

After a while, Archer started to suspect that there was something more to it, and switched his weapon from a wooden sword to a practice spear. An hour later, Fran had developed the [Spear Art] Skill, meaning that whatever system decided who got what Skills identified the doppelganger as being part of Fran, since he was a part of her equipment, and rewarded her for the doppelganger's actions in training. And if Archer's sword body also accumulated the Skill experience, that would mean she was gaining Skill advancements for three sources, instead of just her own.

Handy. Very handy. It won't be long before she surpassed the Skill level Archer had gained from absorbing mana stones.

"Here you go." Archer said, handing the girl a bowl of cooked meat cubes and fruits. He had used the body double he had made to skin and clean some of the monster bodies he had stored inside of his [Dimensional Storage] in order to cook something for Fran, while his sword body stood guard over her. He was disappointed by his lack of spices, and being limited to the herbs, fruits and berries in the surrounding area, but he made do.

He just hoped it tasted right. This was his first time working with most of these ingredients, and he had been saddened to find out that the body double couldn't taste or digest food. So, Archer was worried when as the girl took her first few bites, tears formed in her eyes.

"Is the taste off? I'm sorry I…"

"So good." Fran said with a small shake of the head. "I can't remember the last time I had a hot meal."

"...I'm glad you like it." Archer said with a weak smile.

After eating, the young girl fell asleep, right there on the ground. Archer pulled out one of the slaver's blankets and drape it over her to keep her warm. He stood there, watching her sleep for a little.

Four years as a slave.

Four years without a hot meal, or likely even a full stomach at night. Four years without a bed, or decent blankets. Four years without clean clothes, or even a pair of shoes.

A single warm meal, a blanket to sleep under, a stolen pair of oversized shoes, stuffed with chothe until they fit, and a cloak to keep her warm… she probably felt like the queen of the world.

Her personal Skills said it all. As one experienced hardship, they gained Skills based on those events. Hunger Resistance, Cold Resistance, Exhaustion Resistance, they were all a result of things done to the girl over her lifetime.

Unacceptable!

It was unacceptable for Archer's Master to live in such conditions! To be sleeping on the cold earth! To be dressed in nothing but rags! To receive a second rate meal! As a Servant, he could not allow this to continue a moment long!

Leaving his sword body to protect the girl, he went off a short distance with the body double, as to not disturb his Master's sleep, and got to work. The wagon they stole had plenty of materials to work with, and he had another six and a half hours before the doppelganger body expired. He would have to use them well.


	5. Chapter 5

"So soft." Fran mumbled as she slowly awoke from her dream about a Lonely Man on a Hill of Swords. While she was still a little tired, she felt better than she had in a long time. Everything from the previous day had seemed like a dream. Though she thought that she must still be dreaming when she started to get up, only to find that, rather than laying on the ground, she was in a bed… an actual bed.

There were no sheets, but the large lumpy mattress was very soft, and the monster skin blanket was much thicker and warmer than what she had been using before. And she had a pillow, a real feather pillow! Fran pushed her face into it and breathed it in, making sure that it was real.

[You're awake.] Archer said, drawing the girl's attention away from the bed she was in.

They were in a room, one with stone walls and ceiling. There wasn't much light, only some sprinkling in through the doorway, but with Fran's [Night Vision] it wasn't a problem for her. She could even see a table and some chairs nearby, along with a dresser, all made out of stone.

Archer was there as well, leaning up against the wall beside the doorway.

"Nn." Fran said, nodding her head. "Where are we?"

[We're just in a hole I dug out using [Earth Magic]. I know it isn't much, but it will do as temporary lodgings while we are finishing your training and getting you prepared to face the world.] Archer said, flouting up off the ground. [There are a change of clothes for you in the dresser, and some warm water ready outside. Don't take any of the leather armor, you won't need that yet. Clean yourself up while I make breakfast.]

"Okay." Fran said, getting up from her bed… her bed. It still felt unreal.

She walked over to the dresser and pulled out the clothes, there were four sets of clothes in there for her to choose from, aside from a set of scaly leather armor.

She ended up picking out a linen top and skirt, as well as a pair of silk panties. She didn't know where Archer had gotten the material to make them, or when he had the time. They were plain, but still nicer than anything she had ever owned before. They even had holes in them for Fran's tail.

Taking the clothes, she walked up the stairs that made up the entrance to the little home that Archer had dug out from her and stopped in her tracks when she saw a bathtub… a bathtub full of warm water that was just barely steaming in the cool morning air.

A bath.

* * *

[And here I thought that cats didn't like baths.] Archer said as she saw the look of bliss on Fran's face as she relaxed in the large stone hole in the ground that Archer had filled with hot water, using basic [Water Magic] and [Fire Magic].

As it turned out, the Magic in this world was incredibly useful for day to day tasks, like boiling water, or building a house of stone. With just level 4 [Earth Magic], one could move a good deal of rock at a time. He even had something called [Purification Magic] that was just incredible for getting the blood stains out of the Slave Trader's linen pants and silk shirt, before Archer unmade them in order to create Fran's new clothes.

It was lucky that the bastard was so fat, as it gave Archer plenty of material to work with. He also scrapped the tarp on the wagon to create Fran's bed and pillow, using some of the wood for the bed frame. The bed was stuffed full of the woof from a ram-like Demonic Beast that Archer chanced upon before he had been stuck in the ground, while the feathers for the pillow came from a nearby bird that he found in the night. It had very large eggs, which were now going to be breakfast. He had barely managed to have time to properly tan some of the monster hides to make a basic set of leather armor and some comfortable shoes, before the timer on the [Body Split] Skill ran out.

"Nn. Never seen a cat before, but I like baths." Fran said, almost purring herself. "I used to have them with my mother, before she died."

[...Is that so? Well, you can take another bath tonight if you wish, but for now, breakfast is going to get cold.] Archer informed the girl.

"Nn." Fran nodded.

She was a little slow to get out and get dressed.

She didn't seem to mind Archer seeing her naked, perhaps because he was just a sword, or maybe because she honestly didn't care. Wasn't like Archer cared either. Beyond her being too young, he was quite literally a sword.

Though he would be willing to admit she was a pretty young thing, and that she showed all the signs of one day becoming a heartbreaker when she grew up... She'd look better if she wasn't so dangerously malnourished.

Stats, healing magic and the girl's own determination kept her performing as if there was nothing wrong, but one did not recover from years of neglect after just one night. Her bony ribs were easy to see on her thin frame and her face was ever so slightly sunken. Archer would like to delay the start of their journey until she was back to full heal. A week, at the very least.

With her appetite, malnutrition would soon be a problem of the past.

[Once you are done eating, we can get back to your training.] Archer said as Fran scarfed down an omitted that was probably big enough for two people.

"More sparring?" Fran asked between bites.

[Not today. The Skill I used to produce a sparring partner for you has a 24 hour cooldown and only lasts for 10 hours. So I will use it again for you tomorrow. Today we will focus on getting you used to using the various Magic and Skills that we now share. But don't fool yourself into thinking this is going to be easy. I will work you hard.] Archer told the girl.

"Nn. Will do my best." Fran said before continuing to eat, but after a few more bites she stopped again. "Archer?"

[Hm? Is something the matter?]

She looked up at him, her face still stiff and near expressionless, but her eyes warm. "Thank you, for everything."

[...You're welcome, my Master.]

"...Could you not call me that?"

Archer couldn't help but to start laughing as the girl gave the smallest of pouts. [If that is your wish, Fran.]

* * *

Fran could feel it all around her, the gentle wind. It cradled her, wrapping itself around her form. Sense it all around her, and she felt connected to it. It was not just around her, it was within her.

She knew what it would do. The exact way it would bend every blade of grass. How it would brush past her hair. The smells it would carry to her.

And if she wished, she knew that she could bend it. That she had the power to guide the wind and choose where it would blow. She could control what it would bring.

A pressure. Moisture in the air and an oppressive heat. The wind was stirring, rotating. Pressure pressing against pressure. Power building and being pulled apart. A charge was in the air. Inside of her. She could feel it growing. It was going to…

* * *

*Biri* *Biri*

Fran's eyes slowly opened to see small arcs of electricity jumping between her finger tips. The catgirl felt a shiver run up her spin as she watched the sparks, and a rare, wide smile crossed her face.

[Looks like it worked this time.] Archer said.

"Nn!" Fran said, simply nodding her head, though her eyes were shining with excitement and her ears were happily twitching away.

[From what I can tell, you have a very strong talent for the Lightning Element, while only a weak talent for Wind and Fire. But you weren't able to learn Lightning Magic until after you first practiced Wind and Fire. Strange.] Archer said, though his words were lost on Fran who was quickly becoming lost in her own little world.

They had been practicing learning magic, with Archer using his [Telepathy] to implant imagines and ideas of the elements into Fran's mind, helping to push her to learn the magic on her own. He had explained a lot of stuff about self-hypnosis and making oneself understand and believe being important to using Magic, but Fran hadn't really understood much of it.

She had no talent for learning Earth or Water Magic, but in the short time spent, Fran had increased both Fire and Wind Magic to level 2. She didn't know much about learning magic, but she felt that managing to achieve two level 2 magic types in just a few hours had to be good, even if the Skills she shared with Archer were more powerful.

But the one she had really wanted to learn was Lightning Magic, and not just because it was one that Archer didn't yet have.

While some people found it scary, Fran had always been fascinated by lightning. As a child, she would sit in the dark and stare out the doorway at the raging storms, 'ew'ing and 'ah'ing over the bright flashes of light in the darkness. So when Archer had told her that she had a natural talent for Lightning, it had felt like fate.

And now, that wondrous and beautiful power was at her fingertips.

[We've already reached the limit of my knowledge about how to practice Elemental based Magecraft, since it's never exactly been my specialty. We will need to seek out more information on it later.]

"Nn!" Fran nodded again, though she wasn't really listening. "Biribiri." But suddenly, the plug was pulled on her fun and the sparks disappear. "Ah!?" Fran vocalized in surprise before realizing she no longer knew how to control the mana needed to perform the spell. Archer had unequipped the [Magic Manipulation] Skill from his [Skill Sharing]'s memory slots.

[It seems that even though you've learned a few spells, you still don't have the means to cast them on your own. Sadly, I have no idea how to train for the control of mana in the air.] Archer said with an almost humming quality to his voice. Then he noticed the face that Fran was making. [Come on, don't pout. I'm just saying it would be nice if you know how to use it on your own.] He said before reequipping the skill.

"...Archer leaving?" Fran asked. Her voice was calm, but her heart skipped a beat at the thought. Her life had already taken such a turn because of Archer. It felt like if he disappeared, everything would go back to the way it had been.

[...Don't worry. I'm not planning on going anywhere without you. But it wouldn't hurt for you to be able to handle yourself. And it might give us some clues on how you can get even stronger.] Archer reassured Fran.

"Right." Fran said with a nod of her head. Archer wasn't planning on abandoning her, but she should work hard to be useful. She didn't want to just be a burden to him.

[Well, I might not know how to unlock [Magic Manipulation], but I might have something that would work for [Vigor Manipulation]. Though it might be a bit painful.] Archer said.

Archer had explained about the difference between the Skills to Fran earlier.

[Magic Manipulation] is the ability to move about the Mana in the air in order to perform Magic, while [Vigor Manipulation] allowed for the control of the Magical Energy within the body in order to perform Techniques. Without [Magic Manipulation] one could not do Magic, and without [Vigor Manipulation] Techniques were impossible.

"Learn: how?" Fran asked, now eager to learn. Archer explained to the girl the existence of the magic channels inside of the body and how they could be opened by having someone pushing magical energy into them and forcing them open. Archer insisted that it was a horribly painful experience and told Fran that she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to, but Fran was prepared.

She would do almost anything to get stronger.

[Alright, I'm going to start. Are you ready?]

"Nn." Fran said around the piece of leather that Archer had given her to bite down on.

Archer's strength had been present in her body ever since she had first equipped him. It had always felt like it was settling down on her like a warm blanket, and made her feel safe and confident. However, Archer's energy was now coming much more forcefully and focusing on small areas of her body.

It felt like her spin was on fire, and the small girl's body began to spasm as the most intense pain of her life racked her entire being.

[Fran. Are you alright...] Archer's voice echoed inside her mind, full of concern. She could feel that he was considering pulling back.

(Don't stop!) Fran couldn't speak, but she shouted in her mind. She willed herself to grab onto the power, holding tight to it no matter how much it hurt.

The pain lingered, even after Archer stopped. It didn't start to go away until after the sword used healing magic on her. After it was over, Fran spat out the leather, fell to her knees, and vomited for the first time in over a year.

She had thought she wasn't capable of vomiting anymore, that her time as a slave had trained her body never to give up anything, no matter what. But it seemed she was mistaken.

[Easy there. Deep breaths.] Archer said, and Fran felt him using his telekinesis to pat her back.

"Did it work?" Fran asked as soon as she had the breath to.

[...Yeah. About that. You seemed to have developed a Skill called [Vigor Control].]

"...Awesome."

* * *

[Vigor Control]: The Evolved version of the [Vigor Manipulation] Skill. Grants more precise control of the magic energy within the body, increasing the effectiveness and decreasing the cost of Technique based Skills. Increases the effectiveness of all detection based Skills.

* * *

**A story that has been sitting around in my Google Docs file for a few months, since Tensei shitara Ken deshita used to not have a category.**

**Archer is under the limitation of only being able to call on one Noble Phantasm a day, and he can't do it in a day in which he used Body Split to help speed up Fran's training or help her fight, creating a little bit of a dilemma for him.**

* * *

**For those trying to write a Tensei shitara Ken deshita story, the values of the mana stones seemed to multiple by 4 with every increase in threat rank.**

**G - 1**

**F - 2~4**

**E - 5~16**

**D - 17~ 64**

**C - 65 ~ 256**

**B - 257 ~ 1024**

**A - 1025 ~ 4096**

**S - 4097+**

**Meanwhile EXP increases by 10 with each rank.**

**G - 1G**

**F - 10G**

**E - 100G**

**D - 1,000G**

**C - 10,000G**

**B - 100,000G**

**A - 1,000,000G**

**The amount of Mana points required to rank up the sword is equal to 100*(current rank), and with each rank up it gets 5*(new rank) Evolution Points.**


	6. Chapter 6

Archer smiled as he deftly parried a beautifully executed combo from Fran, allowing himself to be pushed back by the catgirl offensive, getting a good look at how her patterns were developing. He searched for obvious openings, but found none.

Then, he struck back with the blunt wooden axe he was using as his current weapon, interrupting her movements. Her recovery was quick, absorbing the momentum without showing a single gap in her defenses. They were once against sparring, with Archer using a Fran Doppelganger body in order to test the girl's improvements. She had grown well in the past week, and was continuing to grow. Whether it was because of her returning health or a result of the intense training, Fran's stats were slowly increasing, the bonuses she had already achieved being comparable to if she had grown an extra two levels. She was already as strong as a fit adult in Shirou's old world and her prospects for continued growth were good.

And not only were her status improving, but in her ability to put her 'skills' to use were as well. All the actions that were once rigid now flowed naturally, and she was getting better at thinking three steps ahead in battle. She was a clever girl. Archer felt that she would one day become worthy of being called a Master.

Archer could only wonder how long it would be before she would be able to start landing the occasional hit. Archer could no longer get away with minimal movement and had even been made to use magic to prevent his duplicate body from falling to exhaustion. While the times between when Fran would need a pick-me-up were getting longer and longer as she no longer wasted energy on unnecessary movements.

Archer swung upwards with the axe, catching his own sword body on flat, using Fran's own momentum to carry her out of position and into range of his moves.

"[Gust]." Fran mumbled, using the fast wind spell against the broad side of the sword, having it press her down to give her more traction so that she could maintain her footing while using [Herculean Strength], a [Skill] that was similar to body reinforcement magic, to pull her weapon back into a strong sweep, warding away Archer's follow up.

It served to buy her time, but Archer didn't give her the chance to truly recover. Archer swung down hard to intercept the blade, sacrificing his own weapon in order to knock her back onto her back.

While she was down, Archer traced a practice spear and went for the finish, lunging towards Fran as she was helpless on her back.

Only to be forced to disengage as he felt something unseen in front of him, an almost imperceptable shift in the air. Not even a moment later, the air popped as the top of his spear was neatly cut through, letting Archer know that his gut instinct was correct.

Fran had used [Aura Blade], a higher end [Sword Technique]. Normally, it would have been a barely visible blade of magical energy in the air, one so dull as to be more like slugging someone with a stick than a cutting blade. But when combined with [Vibration Fang] the mana blade was condensed, making it both more difficult to spot and greatly increasing its cutting power, until it could easily cut through common leathers and bone.

But even if it was almost invisible, it could still be sensed by the perceptive fighter.

This was not a combination that Archer had taught Fran. The little catgirl had figured it out all on her own. The girl had purposely let Archer down her in order to lure him in close enough to launch the attack.

"Thought I had you." Fran grumbled, already twisting herself up into a defensive crouch.

"It was a good trick." Archer said with a smile. [What a frightening little kitten my Master is.]

Fran shook herself before lifting her weapon back up into the ready position. "No more holding back." She said, as electric bolts hummed along the blade's surface, as she primed her [Elemental Sword] skill with her [Lightning Magic].

"Whenever you are ready." Archer said, tossing the broken spear aside and creating a shield and sword, before lasing the shield with [Earth Magic].

Fran gave a battle cry before rushing in to engaged.

* * *

"...Did… Pass?" Fran asked as she lay on the ground, her eyes unfocused at the end of their training. They had gone for eight hours straight, until Fran simply couldn't go on anymore.

"Yes. I think you are ready to start seeing some real combat." Archer told the girl. "Though don't get ahead of yourself. In battle, a single mistake can cost you your life."

"Nn!" Fran said excitedly. She had worked hard, and deserved praise.

Archer felt a bit of pride, glancing over at Fran's status in order to see how far she had come.

* * *

Name: Fran

Age: 12

Race: Black Catkin

Job: None

Status: Normal

Level: 5/45

HP: 71, MP: 49, STR: 44, END: 56, AGI: 48, INT: 32, MGC: 30, DEX: 43

Shared Skills: Sword Arts: LvMax, Divine Sword Arts: Lv2, Sword Technique: LvMax, Divine Sword Technique: Lv1, Elemental Sword: Lv1, Fire Magic: Lv7, Wind Magic: Lv3, Lightning Magic: Lv3, Herculean Strength: Lv2, Flash Step: Lv1, Axe Art: Lv2, Axe Technique: Lv2, Dual Sword Art: Lv2, Dual Sword Technique: Lv2, Spear Art: Lv2, Spear Technique: Lv2, Bow Art: Lv2, Bow Technique: Lv2… Night Vision, Directional Sense, Hunger Resistance: Lv3, Cold Resistance: Lv2, Exhaustion Resistance: Lv7, Vigor Control

Titles: Fire Mage, Lord of Cooking, Lord of Dismantling, Lord of Digging, Skill Collector, Incarnation of the Sword, Favoured of the Goddess of Chaos, (New) Cadet of Hell's Training.

Equipment: Nameless, High-Quality Wyvern Leather Armor, Good-Quality Wyvern Leather Boots

* * *

Title:Cadet of Hell's Training

Description: Pressing through hellish training, you reap the benefits of your labors.

Effect: +5 END, increased resistance to exhaustion, increase effectiveness of training.

(Must press your body to collapse in training at least once a month or the title is lost)

* * *

All of her stats were at least double what they were before she had first equipped Archer, with many of them being triple or even quadruple their original values, the Status Condition of Malnutrition was gone as she was said to have a clean bill of health, and her personal set of [Skills] was increasing.

Her [Sword Art] and [Sword Technique] had both surpassed the level that Archer had obtained from absorbing Mana Stones and she had unlocked [Divine Sword Art], [Divine Sword Technique] and [Elemental Sword] as a result. Something she was greatly proud of. Her [Exhaustion Resistance] had also increased several levels as a result of the intense training.

Archer's use of every type of weapon under the sun had also caused her to develop [Skills] for several other weapon types, allowing her insight into their basics, such as there common stances and reach. They would come in handy if she was ever forced to fight against them.

The progress of her magic was a bit odder though, as she seemed to gain [Fire Magic] levels in her sleep, while several hours of training had only increased her [Wind Magic] by a single extra level. Archer didn't currently have an explanation of why. Though it appeared that when it came to learning [Lightning Magic], there was a cap place. Her [Lightning Magic] level couldn't grow higher than her [Wind Magic] and [Fire Magic] levels.

Though it was while training her [Wind Magic] that Archer discovered, much to his annoyance, that even with his [Magician] skill increasing the power of his spells, the spells were more effective and cheaper when Fran was the one casting them, even though she was using his mana to do it.

It seemed that even in this world he couldn't get away from his handicap when it came to using magecraft outside of his specialty. In order to cast a simple fireball spell, Archer would need to consume more than double the amount of mana Fran would use for the same spell, and the effect would have half the force behind it.

Even after splurging his Evolution Points in order to upgrade [Mana Manipulation] to [Mana Control] his effectiveness didn't even reach the level that Fran possessed with the first evolution of the skill. Though [Mana Control] was well worth the 5 points he spent on it, as it didn't only decrease the cost of all spells by nearly half and increase their power, it also allowed Archer and Fran to see the flow of magic in the air around them. An almost invaluable ability.

With Archer's larger than normal mana pool and mana recovery at her disposal, the spells granted by shared skills, along with her own steady growth and the abilities she gained through [Mana Control], Fran was set up to become quite the caster, on top of being a warrior.

It was something of an oddity to Archer, having gotten used to being a Servant. He had always been the front line fighter while his Master provided him with Mana and Support Spells. Now the roles had been reversed on him, with him being the one providing Fran with support.

He was still the better fighter, and could probably handle things better by himself than being wielded by her. But that might not be the case forever. With her rate of growth, Archer believed she would become strong. Frighteningly strong.

"Archer…" Fran said, drawing the man out of his compilations. Though he had an idea what this was about when he heard a low rumbling sound. "Hungry..."

Archer blinked before chuckling to himself. "I suppose it has been eight hours since you last ate something. Go wash your off and I'll prepare you something to eat."

"Nn." Fran said, going towards the dugout bath in front of the house and preparing the water and fire spells needed to make the hot water. Meanwhile, Archer went off with the doppelganger body to go and prepare a meal, leaving his sword body behind to stand guard over his master.

The sun would be setting soon, and tomorrow their real adventure would begin.

* * *

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

The sounds of cannon fire echoed as a tall, white haired man garbed in black armor with a crimson red shroud jumped through the air, carrying a young and small woman with wavy brown hair and a placid face in his arms. All around them were ships, beautiful ships which flew through the air, glowing with radiant power.

*BOOM* *PING*

One of the cannon balls, brimming with that same golden energy which seemed to surround the ships, came at the pair, too close for them to dodge, prompting the white haired man to swing out one of his hands in defense. A curved, beautiful white blade materialized in the hand as the man cut the iron ball cleanly in two, letting the two halves fly off course before smashing into the ground with a heavy thud that shook the earth.

"Are you alright, Master?" The white haired man asked as they landed once again.

"I'm alright." The girl said, her voice flat as she looked up above them. "Our prediction was correct. Shinji was rather eager to bring out Rider's Noble Phantasm, the Golden Hind and the rest of it's fleet."

"He never could help but to show off." The white haired man nodded with agreement, his face conveying some amount of disappointment. "While it is indeed a powerful Noble Phantasm, it is more suitable for use against armies, not against Servants. It wouldn't be too hard to destroy it."

"Not yet. The longer Rider is forced to maintain her Noble Phantasm, the more Mana they waste. Drawing it out will make it easier for you to beat her in the end." The woman said in that monotone voice of hers. It took a moment for the man to respond as he had to attend to yet another valley from the fleet of a hundred floating ships.

"I am aware of the plan. I just don't like putting you at risk like this." The white haired man said.

"Because I am so weak, you are not at full strength, so we must use whatever tactics are necessary." The young girl said, before reaching up her hand, placing it on the man's cheek. The man blinked with surprise at the gesture. "I know that you won't let them hurt me."

The man scuffed and gave a smug smile as he again deflected another massive projectile. "What kind of Servant would I be if I could not even protect my Master. I will not let them lay a finger on you."

"I believe in you. Archer."


	7. Chapter 7

Fran stood at the top of the stairs that led down into the underground room which for the last week had been her home. Even though Archer had packed everything that had been down there, including her bed and the stone furniture, into his [Dimensional Storage], Fran felt a ping of loss. Even though it had only been a hole in the ground, it had been the first place she could call home for more than four years.

But she knew she couldn't stay.

Even if she had grown stronger under Archer's tutorage, she knew that she would never become strong enough to evolve if she stayed. She wouldn't let her dream, her parents dream, her entire people's dream die. She would do whatever it took, enduring any pain and hardship, and conquer any enemy to break through the wall.

She wanted to be strong. As strong as Archer was. She wanted to be able to fight the things she had seen him fight in her dreams.

[Fran, are you ready to get moving?] Archer asked her.

"...Nn." Fran replied with a confident nod, turning her back to the hobble and towards the wider world.

[So, which way do you think the nearest city is?] Archer asked her.

"Nn… this way." Fran said, pointing in a direction that felt right, trusting her [Directional Senses].

[Alright then, hop on.] Archer said, floating parallel to the ground, right next to Fran. As she hopped on, Fran felt Archer grabbing hold of her ankles with his telekinesis as he started to shoot forward.

It was an exhilarating feeling, flying on top of Archer, and Fran's eyes light up from the excitement.

By combining [Float], [Telekinesis], [Mana Thief], and [Mana Control], Archer could continue flying for a few hours, even while supporting Fran's weight. So long as he didn't fly too high, as the effects of [Float] and [Mana Thief] weakened as you got further away from the ground and way from any easy source of mana.

Though that might have made it even more exciting, having to duck and weave through the trees while moving at high speeds. Even if Archer was doing most of the steering, Fran found herself mesmerized by the thrill. The wind rushing through her hair adding to her adrenaline.

This was SO much faster than the horse and wagon.

Though after two hours of riding in such a fashion, Fran was willing to admit that her arms and legs were starting to go numb from the wind chill, and was glad when Archer called for a break so that his mana pool didn't dip too low.

You should always keep something in reserve in case of a fight.

While Fran rubbed the feeling back into her legs, Archer offered her some grilled meat, a snack to help her keep her energy up. She used some of her own mana to infuse fire mana into her hands, helping to push heat through her.

[How are you holding up?] Archer asked her.

"Nn." Fran just gave Archer a thumbs up to indicate that she was holding in there.

[I know it isn't comfortable, but we've already covered two hold days worth of walking distance. Just try to make it until we get in sight of a town.] Archer said, seeming apologetic. [We should try to find some kind of alternative means of transportation in the future. Either that or a [Skill] to take the edge off the cold. I suppose we could use Wind Magic to shape the wind around you, but that would be rather costly. A [Cold Resistance] skill would be best, but I don't know how high of a level we would need in order for it to be effective, or what Demonic Beast would have it. Right now, we are in a rather temperate environment, so I can't imagine anything here would have a use for such a [Skill].]

"Nn." Fran said with a nod. Archer had a point, while his ability to absorb [Skills] from the monsters he killed was amazing, it was limited to the kinds of Demonic Beast they encountered. If they wanted to hunt for specific [Skills], they would need to find out what kind of Demonic Beast had the skill and travel to wherever it was that the species lived. So if she wanted [Cold Resistance], she would have to travel to extremely cold places in order to find it. Places she would need [Cold Resistance] in order to safely traverse.

[Clothing enchanted to keep warm would also work.] Archer suggested. [I'm not sure if such a thing exists, but if we go to a big city we might be able to find something.]

"Buy clothes?" Fran mumbled, her hand touching her chest and feeling the leather tunic that Archer had made her from a lesser wyvern's hide. While it wasn't the most beautiful thing in the world, it was comfortable and easy to move in. It had also been a gift. She didn't know if she liked the idea of replacing it with something bought at a store. "No money." She finally said, more as an excuse.

[...True.] Archer admitted. The slave merchants had surprisingly little money on them, barely more than a hundred Gorudos, which Fran had informed him wasn't even enough to pay for one night at a cheap in. [We can figure out some way to make money. But we don't really need to buy the clothes. If I get a good look at them, I can recreate any of their enchantments, as long as we have the materials.]

"Archer's equipment: greatest." Fran said with a sharp nod of her head. The armor she had now was just something that Archer had thrown together in a few minutes with what materials he had on hand. She couldn't wait to see the kind of things he could make her when he actually had everything he could ask for.

However, her daydreaming about superduper armor was cut short as her [Presence Detection] Skill, sharpened by her [Vigor Control], picked up signs of rapid movement. It was still a good distance away from them, but the unusualness of the presence made Fran believe that there was a battle.

"There's a fight." Fran said, getting to her feet and looking off in the direction. She sharpened her hearing and could make out the sounds of goblin battle cries.

[I think you're right.] Archer said. [Seems like a band of goblins are attacking something. Probably no more than twenty individuals.]

"Good target." Fran nodded before starting to run off in the direction of the fighting, drawing Archer from her back.

It was time to put all her training to the test.

* * *

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Yes, Kral and his party had been warned. They had been told that Demonic Beasts had been sighted closer and closer to the city in the last month, but they had gone anyways. Though they would claim they didn't have much of a choice.

Those who don't work don't eat, and money was tight. After paying for their second hand equipment, they barely had enough for their daily bread and had been grateful for the fact that the Guild Hall let them sleep under the stairs, lest they be out on the street.

Two simple G-rank missions. Finding five herbs used in healing potions and tracking down a wild boar. It should have been safe and easy. They hadn't expected to be ambushed, and not just by one goblin, but thirteen.

Conventional wisdom would say that a group of five to six G-rank Adventurers could reliably handle G-rank threat, such as a single goblin, without too much danger. So Kral, Lily and Eustace might have been able to handle one, and that was only a might.

However, a group of ten or more goblins was considered a F-rank threat, and would mean death for a party like theirs.

Kral would have called it a miracle that they had managed to break through the goblin's encircling them, with him carrying Eustace, their injured mage on his back, but he had a feeling that it had less to do with their fortune, and more to do with the goblins having fun toying with their prey. Rather than simply attacking and killing them, the goblins were throwing rocks at their backs as they struggled to run away.

One such rock slammed into Kral's head, causing the man to stagger and almost fall. He could hear the goblins' laughter as he struggled to maintain his footing.

"Come on, we have to keep moving!" Lily shouted, dropping her bow so that she could grab Eustace's other arm.

"Lily… Kral… I'm not going to make…" Eustace struggled to speak through the pain, but stopped as his body was seized by a fit of coughing. Kral's blood ran cold as he saw the trickle of blood escaping his friend's mouth. The arrow had gotten him in the side before any of them had the time to register what was going on. It was a dangerous injury, and their need to move was not helping matters. "Leave me. Save…"

"Don't talk like that! We aren't leaving…!" Lily started before giving her own cry of pain. An arrow caught her in the shoulder, her body twisting with the impact as she dragged Eustace down with her, Kral barely managing to keep his feet.

Looking down at his injured party members, the warrior felt hopeless. He could do nothing but look around him and the group of goblins that now had him once again encircled, laughing at him and throwing stones.

Anger rose up in him. "Well, what are you waiting for!?" He shouted at the mob, lifting up his sword as best he could. A previous injury to his side, received when they had rushed through the group before, screamed at him. In the end, his sword just slipped through his fingers.

Who was he kidding? There would be no final heroic stand for him.

"Kral!" Lily screamed as a pair of goblins rushed forward with rusty iron knives, ready to finish him off.

*Thud* *Thud*

Kral blinked in surprise as a pair of polished steel knives flew passed his shoulders before slamming into the faces of the goblins, cutting straight through the bone of their skulls and killing them in an instant. And as they fell, the goblins behind him let out a scream.

It felt surreal to Kral as he turned around to see their reinforcement, a small girl, no more than twelve years old, wearing some kind of reptilian leather armor and holding a broad sword that was far too big for her body, blood dripping from its blade. At her feet were four more goblins that she had just cut down. But the most unreal thing about it was the detached, almost bored expression that she had.

The goblins screamed in anger at being disturbed and began to try and attack the girl.

An arrow flew passed him and towards the girl who gracefully sidestepped the shout before charging forward herself, raising one and to her side as she began to mouth a chant. "[Stone Arrow]."

A sharpened stone appeared in the air in front of the girl and flew straight towards the archer goblin which had been shooting at Kral's party. The goblin didn't even have time to be surprised as the projectile slammed into his face, caving in his skull and killing him in an instant.

Five of the remaining seven goblins rushed forward. Two had knives, another two spears, and the last had a sword and shield. While the five of them attempted to slash at the girl, the last two goblins picked up rocks, throwing them at the girl in an attempt to throw her off balance.

None of it made a difference. She parried and dodged all attacks made against her as she pressed through the goblins, cutting down all those that dared to attack her at close range.

The stone throwers were shocked, not knowing what to do, but before they had a chance to decide, the girl cast her spell again. "[Stone Arrow]." There were two rocks this time, and for each of the remaining goblins.

"Nn. Weak." The Black Catkin child said, her voice completely dry as she said it. It was as if she was disappointed.

"So… strong." Lily said. Kral could only nod his head in agreement.

The two still conscious Adventurers jumped as the girl looked up and turned her head towards them in a manner that made them feel like she had forgotten that they were even there. Her cold expression as she stood there covered in goblin blood sent a shiver up their spins, despite her childish stature. Without a word she started to walk towards them, and then past them.

Lily and Kral watched speechless as she leaned down over Eustace, grabbing a hold of the arrow in his side before ripping it out.

"What are you doing!?" Lily shouted in horror, while Eustace just screamed, but the girl placed her hand over the wound.

"~Gather light of healing, [Cure Wound]" The girl said as her hand began to glow. Right before their eyes, the wound began to close, until nothing of it remained.

"I… what… what happened?" Eustace said as he started to come too, a hand moving to his side. "The pain is gone."

"Eustace, you're alright... AWH!" Lily screamed as the girl grabbed the arrow lodged in her shoulder before pulling it out as well. Kral winced as he watched the small child heal the wound, and counted his blessings that he didn't have any arrows sticking out of him.

That didn't stop him from staggering back when the girl moved up before him and looked up at his face. "Kneel." The girl said sharply.

"W...what?" Kral stammered.

"Too tall. Can't reach head injury." The child said curtly.

"Ah, right!" Kral said quickly, doing exactly as the girl told him to, and kneeling down. She placed a hand on the side of his head and repeated her spell, causing the pain to retreat as the wound closed.

"Alright now?" The beastkin girl asked them.

"I… I think so." Lily said, still in a daze.

"Nn." The child simply nodded her head before turning and starting to walk away.

"H...hey! Wait a second!" Kral called out to her, causing her to pause. "Tha...thank you for saving us." The man said awkwardly before continuing. "You're an Adventurer, aren't you?"

* * *

Fran had been more than ready to leave when the man called out to her. While she had saved their lives, she wasn't at all interested in the small group of people they had found being bullied by a bunch of goblins.

To be honest, Archer himself wasn't all that interested in them either. Yes, he agreed with Fran in helping to get them back up on their feet, but grouping up with them seeming suboptimal.

Each of them was absolutely pathetic, with stats even lower than Fran's had been while she was a slave, and weaker than even a goblin's. None of their key stats was beyond the single digits, and they didn't have any skills to speak of, save for the mage with [Fire Magic] Lv1, which itself was almost useless.

These people would be less than worthless in a fight, and Fran and Archer were very much intending on fighting things, given Fran's declared objective being becoming strong enough to undergo evolution. That, added to the fact that each of them seemed to be in their early twenties and might have misunderstandings about who is in charge around here, made them very undesirable to have around.

That last fight had given her just enough EXP to grow from level 5 to level 6. A nice first step, but Fran still had a long way to go if she wanted to reach her goal. After that small taste, Fran was hungry for more combat, and Archer was willing to let her practice tracking multiple opponents against these weak goblins.

Without how many they just found, there should be a nest nearby, and a large one too. Perhaps a few hundred goblins.

[It's doubtful that they know anything about the situation around here, they are probably from a nearby settlement. It wouldn't hurt to talk to them and build up a good relationship for later. You never know when someone can get you useful information or a foot in the door] Archer suggested.

(Why would I want my foot in a door?) Fran asked, not understanding the expression.

[It's an expression that means they might be able to get you opportunities or information that you might otherwise not be able to get.] Archer explained. He was becoming pretty used to Fran's lack of experience with expressions and was more than willing to explain when one came up.

"Nn." Fran said, nodding to what Archer said, before giving the small group her bare minimal attention. She was still much more interested in her level up and finding more opponents. "Not an Adventurer." She finally told them after a long enough silence to make them uncomfortable.

"You aren't? But I thought…" The warrior started to stammer but stopped, shaking his head and bowing towards Fran. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. We still haven't introduced ourselves too you. I'm Kral, and this is Lily and Eustace. We are G-rank Adventurers."

"G-rank?" Fran asked, not sure as to what the man meant.

"Just like Demonic Beasts, Adventurers are divided into ranks going from G-rank to A-rank, with a few above even that at S-rank." The young woman explained.

"G-rank: weak. Understood." Fran summarized, causing the three adventurers to wince.

[Ouch, that one probably hurt.]

"Need more healing?" Fran asked them, yet again misunderstanding what Archer had meant.

"No we're fine, thanks to you." Kral said. His eyes drifted over to the dead goblins. He seemed momentarily conflicted, before he continued to speak. "You're the one who killed these goblins, so its only right that you are the one who gets to keep them."

"Wait, this little kid killed all these goblins? Are you for rea…?" The mage, who had been unconscious when Fran had first arrived, was quickly shut up by the bow user.

"You've already saved our lives. We couldn't possibly accept any more than that." Kral said.

"Goblins worth something?" Fran asked, a little curious.

"Well… sort of. Their horns can be used in some magics, but they aren't very valuable. Most merchants will buy them for 5 Gorudos a piece. But since the Adventurers' Guild has an open bounty on Evil Beings, you can exchange them at the Adventurers' Guild for 20 Gorudos." Kral explained.

"Not much." Fran said simply, and Archer had to admit she was right. 20 Gorudos? Based on his understanding of the cost of a room and a single meal, he estimated it to be the same as $1.50 USD. Killing thirteen of them was barely enough money to buy the three lunch.

The man blushed with embarrassment. "...There weapons might be worth another 2 or 3 hundred."

"...Does the guild buy any Demonic Beast?" Fran asked after a slight pause, remembering the mountain of corpses that Archer had been dismantling over the last few days.

"Normally, yes. As long as the material has a use." Lily said with a nod. "Though you have to become a member of the Guild first."

[Hm, useful information.] Archer said, to which Fran nodded in agreement. Then, the girl glanced over at the goblin archer's body.

"What about the evolved versions? How much is a high goblin worth?" Fran asked, pointing the goblin out.

"What!? There was a higher breed!?" Eustace shouted in panic.

"Nn?"

After Fran pointed out to them that there was not just one, but three high goblins in the group, the three adventurers went into a panic.

Fran and Archer both thought they were overreacting a bit. After all, they were just goblins. Before meeting Fran, Archer had slaughtered the Evil Beings by the hundreds.

Though Fran's interest returned moments later when they started to talk about the possibility of another Goblin King, and how it would mean that there was the possibility that in a nearby Goblin Nest there were hundreds of hobgoblins, as well as a Goblin King and Queen.

"How much EXP do hobgoblins give?" Fran asked them.

"Huh? Well, since a single hobgoblin is considered an F-rank threat, it should be worth around ten times more than a normal gobl… where are you going!?"

* * *

**In canon, killing those 13 goblins (including 3 high goblins) grew Fran from level 5 to 6. Later in the canon, it is shown that killing a single goblin is enough EXP to grow from level 1 to level 2. So after just 4 levels, the EXP requirement increased by more than ten fold.**

**This high scaling trend continues throughout the story, with the 130 she killed after that (including 20 high goblins and 4 hobgoblins) grew her from 6 to 12.**

**However, during the attack on the goblin nest, Fran killed more than 200 hobgoblins (including the goblin king and queen) and over 800 beetles (g-rank monsters) and only grew from level 12 to level 17.**

**Then killing the B-rank Demon (the Demon was actually on the low end of B-rank stats wise) grew her from level 17 to level 25. Growing her more levels than when she killed the 1000+ monsters leading up to that point.**

**assuming that the amount of EXP requirement only went up by 10 times every 5 levels, the Demon was worth almost 40 times as much EXP as all the other monsters she had fought that day put together. Meaning he was worth 8000 hobgoblins (F-rank monster) + 320000 beetles (G-rank monster)**

**This is where I got my estimate that the amount of EXP gained increases by a factor of 10 with each threat level increase.**

* * *

Hmm23: "Now that i think about it Fran could just kill the lich or the priest/fragment to Evolve though i don't remember is the fragment could do it just for her or to reléase the black catkin curse"

Answer, no for the Lich, yes for the Evil Priest.

While the Lich would be an A-rank Demonic Beast, he's existences was not connected to the Evil God, so he wasn't an 'Evil Being'. So Fran killing him wouldn't have let her evolve. The Priest/Fragment would have let her evolve, but she would need to solo kill it. But that would only let her Evolve. The fragment was strong (maybe even Servant strong in terms of raw power (not in skill, obviously)), but it wasn't S-rank strong.

S-rank Demonic Beasts would be things as powerful as True Heroic Spirits (pseudo gods). Remember that Leviathan had 5 digits on his stats and his race was Divine Beast. It was a monster capable of destroying the entire planet if it set its mind to it.


	8. Chapter 8

Using their various tracking [Skills], Fran and Archer figured out where that first band of goblins had come from and it wasn't long before they stumbled upon a second group, one that was… slightly larger.

One hundred and thirty goblins in total, including twenty high goblins and four hobgoblins. While taking them by surprise had allowed Fran to kill six of them before they started, that still left well over a hundred goblins to deal with.

Even so, Archer held back, allowing Fran to do most of the fighting, only providing assistance by healing her wounds and using his telekinesis to deflect attacks that would have caused serious injuries, as well as giving her instruction on how to close the gaps in her defenses. The goblins were better coordinated than before, they had far more ranged units and a mage capable of using both support magic and necromancy.

Even so, the fight quickly devolved into a one sided slaughter. Fran's sword skills simply being too much for them to handle. In deed, her Divine Sword Arts seemed to surpass the kind of skill displayed by most mortals, not to the degree of being at the Servant level, but still inhuman all the same, and her magic was nothing to scoff at either. In just ten minutes, Fran had killed them all, suffering only a handful of small injures.

Fran had already grown six more levels and they hadn't even reached the goblin's nest yet. In Archer's limited Experience, the goblin nest usually housed the higher level individuals.

(Fran has grown to level 12 | New titles unlocked; One Man Army, Goblin Slayer, One Who Slaughters)

Archer glanced over the girl's stats and new titles. Her abilities were steadily increasing. If this kept up, Fran was approaching what in Archer's previous world would have been considered the human limit in both speed and strength. Archer didn't have much of a scope what what that means in terms of this world, as he had never seen any humans save for the slaves and slavers, and those super rookie adventurers from before, but he felt like it had to be impressive. In deed, a twelve year old girl who can already lift four hundred pounds is something to be boggled at. It still wasn't comparable to Servants, but it was insane for a mortal without magical enhancements.

As for titles, they were a mixed batch. Goblin Slayer was simple enough, you kill a hundred or more goblins to get it and it gives you increased damage to goblins. Kind of useless, since goblin's die in just one well placed blow anyways.

One Who Slaughters was only slight better, as it gave Fran +10 AGI. It is supposed to be a title award to those who kill a hundred enemies in a single battlefield and provides the person with the [Mental Stability] Skill, decreasing their aversion to bloodshed, but… Fran really didn't have that.

In deed, Archer was a little surprised that the girl could be surrounded by so much blood, being completely covered in it by the end of her battle, without going through the normal reactions. The small of so much blood would usually cause the body to start to gag, in order to protect itself from blood borne diseases. However, Fran seemed just fine with it. If anything, she was practically giddy with excitement, as if going into a blood frenzy. Perhaps Beastkin don't have the same gag reflex as humans do. Or maybe Fran was just a natural born battle junky.

However, the final title 'One Man Army' was much more valuable, granting +20 to HP, STR and END and giving her the [Indomitable Resolve] skill, which prevented her from feeling fear in the face of adversity and increased her stamina and recovery speed. It was a big one.

"One Man Army: rare!" Fran said a little louder than her normal monotone voice, her eyes even widened to show her excitement as she gathered Magic Stones from the dead before tossing the body into their [Dimensional Storage].

[I can imagine it would be.] Archer said as he looked over the requirements. In order to gain the title, one had to fight one hundred enemies of equal or higher level to themselves all alone and survive. It was only because of her training, her unusually strong [Skills] and the buffs she got from having Archer equipped that allowed Fran to overcome such odds with only a few small injuries.

"Hero's title!" Fran explained.

Hero's title… Interesting. So there were especially difficult titles that are associated with heroes. Perhaps even giving superior bonuses for getting them. It might be handy to try to find out the requirements for such titles and aim to achieve them.

Well, for now, Archer was just glad that Fran seemed to be happy.

"Search for more." Fran suggested as they finished retrieving the stones.

[Yes. We still need to find the goblin's nest.] Archer agreed.

"Nn!" Fran said, nodding her head sharply.

* * *

[I don't like the look of this.] Archer said after they had found a large cave entrance with blood red marks on the stones surrounding it. Archer recognized the marks as being the same kind he had seen before when dealing with goblins, so this was definitely their nest. However, Archer's previous experiences could not explain the overwhelming magical presence that echoed through the walls of the cavern. [If this is just a goblin's nest, then what is with all this magical energy?]

"Archer: worry wort." Fran said, clearly .

[Don't get ahead of yourself. This nest isn't normal so we should take things slowly.] Archer cautioned her. While her outward demeanor hadn't changed at all, she was far too excited about fighting, to the point where Archer was feeling concerned about her.

Did leveling have some kind of euphoria effect that was clouding her judgment?

"Haven't killed Goblin King yet." Fran said, trying to justify pushing forward.

[...True. So long as the Goblin King is alive, they will keep breeding hobgoblins.] Archer agreed. Hobgoblins still won't much of a threat to Fran and Archer, but they did have stats that were around three times higher than a normal goblin's. [In large enough numbers, they could cause some serious problems in the surrounding area. Especially if they are just left to keep multiplying. How fast do goblin's breed anyways?]

"10 days to become full grown." Fran replied.

[...They really are like roaches.] Archer said with a sigh. [Alright, we will press forward, but proceed with caution. I don't want us to become surrounded or trapped down there.]

"Nn." Fran said, not needing any more encouragement as she pushed forward into the nest.

Not satisfied with Fran's assurance that she would be careful, Archer decided to spend 14 more of his self-evolution points, bumping [Presence Concealment] up from Lv1 to Lv5 and increasing [Presence Detection] from Lv2 to Lv5, instructing Fran to keep [Presence Concealment] on while they were out of combat.

It didn't make much of a difference. While Fran used her [Presence Concealment] to ambush enemies, she was still attacking every enemy group they spotted.

While it was their objective to kill as many of the hobgoblins as possible, Archer was concerned about the lack of caution she was displaying. Her argument that they would be safer the less enemies were around was correct, but that didn't make her actions right. Still, despite Archer's paranoia, they continued deeper and deeper into the caves, killing hobgoblins as they went.

And it was only hobgoblins. After entering the goblin nest, they no longer saw any normal goblins or high goblins. Instead there were dozens upon dozens of hobgoblins.

With her ability to ambush them, and the [Goblin Slayer] title causing the goblin's to fear the girl and hesitate whenever they saw her, Fran went from group to group, killing most of them before they even had a chance to properly react. With each group she killed, she gathered their magic stones before tossing the bodies into her Dimensional Storage and cleaning away any sign of battle before disappearing once again into the shadows and moving on.

The cave system was massive, and in this manner, Fran went from section to section, killing hobgoblin until she finally found what she was looking for, the Goblin King.

(No throne room?) Fran thought to Archer though their telepathic link, seeming disappointed as she came to a section of the cave and found a cluster of nearly a hundred hobgoblins waiting for her, their king and queen in the center of it all.

Fran was right, the area wasn't even more spacious than any of the others, causing the Demonic Beasts to all be cramped together in a small area, there wasn't really anything special about the room as far as Archer could see. Still, there were quite a few hobgoblins there.

...Not that it mattered.

Before entering the room, Fran used [Split Thought] in order to allow her to cast two spells at once, launching to large AOE fire attacks into the inclosed space.

The two [Flame Magic] spells engulfed almost the entire room in fire, bringing out short screams of panic from the occupants inside. As the surprise attack ended, Fran rushed inside to confront the Goblin King and Queen… only to find they were already dead from the previous volley. "Disappointing."

[What were you expecting? Even if it was the Goblin King, it was still just a goblin.] Archer commented, though he was still focusing on the walls. Even though they had killed nearly four hundred Hobgoblins thus far, the magic in the walls hadn't changed. No. That wasn't the case. After this room he was sure of it. [This place is absorbing energy from the fallen. No, not just the fallen. Everyone inside of it. It isn't much energy, but it is still there.]

The entire place reminded Archer of the Arenas from the Moon Cell's Holy Grail War.

"Mysterious." Fran commented as she moved forward, still a little disappointed about the ease in which she dispatched the Goblin King, but wanting to absorb the Magic Stones anyways.

* * *

Self-Evolving:

(Rank 7 | Memory 60 | Points 57) → (Rank 8 | Magic Stone Value 2801/3600 |Memory 68 | Points 97)

ATK: 342 → 404 MP: 1550 → 2050 Durability: 1450 → 1850 Mana Channel: A

* * *

Fran had absorbed enough Magic Stones for Archer to once again rank up. A welcome sight, since it came with a boost to his mana pool. The increase in attack wasn't all that important at the moment. Considering his reinforcement magecraft could safely increase the attack by 2000 whenever he needed it, an increase of 62 wasn't that much.

The extra Self-evolution Points were also nice, though Archer didn't currently have a good target for using them on. He didn't know enough about Skill to want to spend a limited resource on any of them. Perhaps raising one of the skills would lead to interesting results, but he didn't know. He also didn't know if a skill he spent his Points getting would turn out to be a common skill which would have been leveled up from just repeated absorption if he had been patient.

Archer had always been something of a frugal man, even in life, and these mystical Self-evolution Points invoked an almost too-valuable-to-use syndrome in him. Kind of like with the Old Rin and her jewels.

"Door." Fran said suddenly, pointing towards one of the passages out of the room..

[What?] Archer said looking in the direction she was pointing.

Sure enough, there was a door… A giant stone door, in the middle of a cave. Though the door, in the almost pitch darkness of the cave torches, the two of them could see tiled stone flooring.

[Well, that's not something you should find in a goblin's nest.] Archer said.

"Nn. Why wasn't king waiting in there? Better setting." Fran said as she drew closer to the door.

[I have no idea, but we don't know what any of this is about.] Archer said. [We should head back up to the surface. We've already dealt with the Goblin King, there shouldn't be any rush for us to press forward. We can go to town and try to research what is going on here.]

"Nn… I bet something bigger is in there." Fran said.

[You're probably right. We should check the door for any sort of clues before we leave.] Archer said. Fran nodded her head and started to walk closer to the doors. But rather than stopping there, she walked straight into the room. [What are you doing!?] Archer shouted, but it was too late.

The doors slammed behind them and the lights in the room flickered and then died. Then, after a moment of quiet, the whining sound of bug wings could be heard. Hundreds of them.

"More opponents." Fran said, lifting up Archer as she used her [Presence Detection] to find them even in the dark.

[Fran...] Archer said with a tired sigh.

Why was she being so reckless?

* * *

Army Beetle Leader Lv.5

Race: Calamity Insect (Demonic Beast)

HP: 8, MP: 20, STR: 4, END: 3

AGI: 22, INT: 5, MGC: 12, DEX: 12

Skills:

Wind Magic Lv1, Summon Kin Lv5, Leadership Lv1, Cooperation Lv1

Inherent Skills:

Acid Fang

* * *

Army Beetle Lv.2

Race: Calamity Insect (Demonic Beast)

HP: 6, MP: 10, STR: 3, END: 3

AGI: 20, INT: 2, MGC: 4, DEX: 10

Skills: Hardening Lv1

Inherent Skills:

Acid Fang

* * *

Army Beetle Medic Lv.4

Race: Calamity Insect

HP: 10, MP: 15, STR: 1, END: 7

AGI: 20, INT: 4, MGC: 8, DEX: 10

Skills:

Recovery Magic Lv.2

Inherent Skills:

Acid Fang

* * *

Army Beetle Medic Lv.4

Race: Calamity Insect

HP: 3, MP: 18, STR: 2, END: 2

AGI: 20, INT: 3, MGC: 10, DEX: 10

Skills:

Wind Magic Lv.3

Inherent Skills:

Acid Fang

* * *

It was a trap room, and an incredibly dangerous trap room at that. They locked the intruders inside and then had them swarmed by hundreds of insects. Each of the Army Beetles alone was no stronger than a goblin, giving the intruder a false sense of safety, believing that they could defeat all of the beetles before too long, only for more and more to be called on by the Army Beetle Leader's [Summon Kin] skill.

Slowly, bit by bit, the bugs whittle away at the fighter's endurance until they can no longer fight back as for every enemy they kill, two more take its place.

...Well, that is the theory behind the room, anyways. They likely didn't take into account the possibility of people like Fran and Archer being there.

With Archer's mana pool, which was currently 4 times the size of a genuine magus's, his ability to drain mana from his enemies Magic Stones, their bodies, and the air around them, and Fran's inhuman endurance… it would be a few hours before there was any sign of tiring.

In fact, Fran was purposely leaving the Beetle Leaders alive to summon more of their brethren, rather than even trying to end the fight.

Archer just let her. He started to think that since when he ranked up, his mana receives were restored, Fran might also be getting a sort of recharge because of her level ups. Perhaps all her leveling had just caused her to have a sudden surplus of energy and she just needed to get it out of her system.

He first had this theory about an hour ago… and she had gotten the 'Insect Slayer' title for killing more than 300 insect-type Demonic Beasts after the first twenty minutes or so, and as the Army Beetle Leaders were summoning more Army Beetle Leaders, the process was only accelerating. Archer could only get a rough estimate of just how many she had killed by keeping an eye on his "Magic Stone Points", as each beetle was worth a single point. He had gained an additional 800 Magic Stone Points thus far, and she had only absorbed about two thirds of the stones from the ones she killed. So she was at around 1200 kills already.

Fran had already absorbed enough of the stones in that room alone to grow Archer yet another Self-Evolution rank, and she was still going. Fran claimed at first that she wanted to keep absorbing the stones so that she could increase Archer's [Wind Magic] level, hoping that it would help her improve her own [Wind Magic] and by extension her [Lightning Magic]. However, Archer had already managed to increase [Recovery Magic], [Wind Magic] and [Summon Kin] to their max level, just by repeatedly absorbing the stones from the beetles. It had even allowed Archer to unlock [Lightning Magic] himself as well as [Healing Magic], the upgrade of [Recovery Magic], and [Overcharge Summoning], the upgrade of [Summon Kin]. Though he doubted he would even use [Overcharge Summoning]. Summoning a living creature to assist you and increasing its power so that it can obtain superior performance but dies horribly after a short period of time… feels unethical.

While he was glad to have gotten such things, he still was far more concerned about Fran's strange behavior.

He gave up on the plan to simply exhaust Fran of her 'level up' based surplus of energy when after an hour of killing the bugs, she leveled up yet again, going from level 18 to level 19. In that single day she had grown 15 levels. He was starting to worry that this accelerated growth might even be unhealthy.

[I think you've had enough.] Archer told the girl after she had leveled up once again.

"But… bonus stage." Fran said.

[Fran, it is time for us to leave. Finish the rest of them off now.] Archer said forcefully. Fran paused and actually seemed sad about being told to stop. [We can return another day, but right now we need to retreat, recollect ourselves and come back with more information.]

"Nn." Fran said, nodding her agreement and starting to kill the monsters a little faster than before. Archer joined in, just to make sure she wouldn't be tempted to prolong the fight even more.

It didn't even take five minutes for them to clear the room of the remaining two hundred or so enemies in the room.

However, when the last of the beetles was killed and the lights came back on, rather than the door going back opening up, the door on the opposite side of the room opened, inviting them to go deeper, meanwhile, the door behind them remained shut tight.

Archer was thinking about how to get the door back to open when Fran spoke. "Strong."

So, she sensed it too. [Yes. It feels stronger than the C-rank Demonic Beasts I've seen before. It's at least at the B-rank level.] Not only was it considerably stronger than what Archer had faced in the forest before meeting Fran, it was likely intelligent and there was the real possibility that it was hiding some of its strength. [We should turn back now and...] Fran ignored him and started for the open door. [Fran, what are you doing!?] Archer shouted at the girl yet again, using his telekinesis to pull her back. [It isn't a battle you are ready for.]

"Archer is with me. We can win." Fran said, trying her best to go for the door.

[It's a pointless risk.]

"Not pointless!" Fran said forcefully, then, to Archer's surprise, she used [Herculean Strength], [Support Magic], and [Wind Magic] to help push them forward, towards the open door, before Archer could gather the power to stop them.

The door slammed shut behind them, a strong magical presence echoing through it in order to keep it closed.

Then, the lights in the room flared bright, and a large humanoid demonic beast with huge demon horns, bat like wings and a spear-like tail floated before them on the far side of the stone brick room. The creature grinned as he saw them, rolling his huge muscular arms in the fashion of an athlete stretching before a big event.

The beast grinned, showing several sharpened teeth before he spoke. "Yo, yo! Our first guest! Welcome! You sure took your time with that previous room. I was starting to wonder if you weren't coming at all."

[...Master. We will have words.] Archer said forcefully. However, this was not the time, now was the time for battle, and against the strongest opponent thus far.

* * *

Demon Lv.30

Race: Fiend (Demonic Beast)

HP: 1900, MP: 2409, STR: 720, END: 798

AGI: 775, INT: 882, MGC: 1108, DEX: 658

Skills:

Digging Lv3, Darkness Magic Lv4, Coercion Lv4, Transportation Lv2, Sword Techniques Lv5, Sword Arts Lv5, Abnormal Status Resistance Lv7, Earth Magic Lv7, Climbing Lv1, Poison Magic Lv7, Magic Barrier Lv6, Dark Magic LvMax, Cooking Lv1, Darkness Reinforcement, Darkness Immunity, Night Vision, Automatic MP Recovery, Control Immunity, Skin hardening, MGC ↑ Low, Strength ↑ Low

Unique Skills: Skill Taker Lv.6

Titles: Demon Count

Equipment: Demonic Shadow-Steel Longsword

Description: Only summoned by Dungeon Masters, this being is native to Dungeons. Followers of the God of Chaos, their combat prowess is exceedingly high, with their lowest Threat Level at C. The existence of individuals reaching level S has been confirmed. During the summons, for the sake of increasing the abilities of the dungeon master, it's abilities are extremely varied. Magic Stone Location: Heart

* * *

**Self-Evolving:**

**(Rank 8 | Memory 68 | Points 97) → (Rank 9 | Magic Stone Value 3721/4500 |Memory 75 | Points 152)**

**ATK: 404 → 478 MP: 2050 → 2500 Durability: 1850 → 2300 Mana Channel: A**

* * *

**The reason Shishou(Master) didn't grow any ranks during the goblin dive was because he was holding back on absorbing stones in order to not make people suspicious about their disappearance.**

**Without that concern in mind, and with Fran having the entire dungeon to herself, Archer was just pushed forward in grow by comparison. **


	9. Chapter 9

"Not pointless!"

Fran knew that Archer would be angry with her. She just wished that he could understand that the risks she took were not pointless.

If you want to become truly strong, strong enough to be deserving of a miracle, then you had to do whatever it took. You had to take any opportunity. You had to push yourself to the limit and then beyond it.

Fran didn't care about risking her life. Not so long as she could fulfill their dream.

Fran had been born the only child of two Black Catkin adventurers, Kinan and Framia, and had been taken with them on adventures from the day she had been born. Her parents had not been strong. They had struggled through each of their battles, fighting tooth and nail. Fran could remember all the times they used to return to her beaten up and barely standing. She would cry and ask them why they did it, why they would keep adventuring when they kept getting hurt so badly.

Her parents taught her to have pride in being a Black Catkin, even when everyone around her called them weak and worthless. They had shared with her their dream, the dream of discovering the secret to the Black Catkin's evolution. She watched them struggle every day, holding their heads up high and fighting with everything they had in order to pursue their dream.

Though they would never achieve it.

They died. They died, leaving Fran alone in the world with nothing. Nothing, save for a dream. It was the only thing she had. It was her only reason for living. To discover evolution for her people. To reclaim the Black Catkins' right to have pride in themselves.

It was this dream that kept her going. It had burned inside of her even throughout those long years of slavery. Even as a slave, she had trained. Every time she could find a straight stick, she would practice swinging it to try to gain the [Sword Art] skill. Every time she had strength left at the end of the day, she would spend it to try to strengthen her body. She had hunted and beaten to death fanged rats every night, managing to gain two whole levels over the course of four years from the meager experience given by the less than G-rank Demonic Beasts. She spent so many nights training that she developed the [Night Vision] skill. She had practiced resisting the slave contract, seeing how far she could stretch it and enduring the pain that came with it, hoping she would one day be able to kill her slavers so that she could pursue the dream unhindered.

She had worked as hard as she could to fulfill her parents' dream. She worked hard, even in the darkest of times. She worked hard, even when her rewards were so little. She worked hard, even when it had seemed pointless. And for her hard work, she had been granted a miracle.

It had been her [Night Vision] that had allowed her to spot Archer's blade in the deep shadows of the forest. It was her practice fighting the slave contract that allowed her to reach him. It had been the little strength she had gained from her constant efforts that had allowed her to pull him from the ground. And because she did, her life had been changed.

She was becoming stronger. Stronger than her parents had ever managed to become in their fifteen years as adventurers. Stronger than most people ever got. She, a 'worthless' Black Catkin, was becoming strong.

She could feel it in her bones as her level grew. In just a few hours, her strength had nearly doubled. It was exhilarating, feeling how easily her body moved when compared to that morning.

Even so, she knew that it wasn't enough, that she wouldn't be able to evolve by simply training and growing levels. If it had been that easy, others would have done it already. Something else was needed.

She had visions every night since she met Archer. Dream of past battles. Of impossible odds and the struggles that he had undertaken with his previous Master. It was thoughts of Archer, of the fires that had forged him into a warrior, that had pushed Fran further and further. It was his life that had made her sure of what she had to do.

If she wanted another miracle, she would have to earn it.

She just wished she could make Archer understand. Her life had no other meaning, save to fulfill that dream.

"Yo, yo! Our first guest! Welcome! You sure took your time with that previous room. I was starting to wonder if you weren't coming at all." The Demon said, his tone of voice so casual and open as to create a weird contrast with his scary appearance.

Fran raised Archer in front of her, ready for battle.

She could feel it. She could feel that this was a monster that was beyond her, that his strength completely dwarfed hers, but she was not afraid. This was her trial, the obstacle that she would need to overcome to become truly strong, to gain what couldn't be gained through mere training or levels.

[He has level 5 [Sword Art] and [Sword Technique], but his weapon's history is short. I suspect that he was created with those attributes and doesn't have custom patterns. Keep in mind the attack patterns of those levels of [Sword Art] and how to guard against them.] Archer said, giving Fran an information dump as the Demon started to stretch.

Upset as he was with her, Archer would support her in battle.

[Don't bother with ranged magic. His [Magic Barrier] and defense are too high for us to deal any real damage to him that way. If he chooses to engage at close range, don't overwhelm him too quickly. Buy your time and look for an opening. Try to get a decisive first hit.] Archer advised her. [If he choices to make this a ranged fight, we will be in trouble.]

(Understood.) Fran replied with a nod.

Archer spent 18 more of his Self-evolution Points in order to upgrade [Support Magic] to its highest level, casting spells to greatly increase Fran's strength and speed.

Even with these buffs, Fran was all too aware that the Demon was over four times stronger than she was. If she made a misstep, she would die.

But she wasn't afraid. She would do this. Just like Archer, she would overcome all odds.

Seeing that Fran wasn't falling to his [Panic] skill, the Demon laughed. "Hah! Quite determined, aint'cha? Good! Even if I'm fightin' a brat I won't show mercy, you know?! You came here to clear the dungeon, after all!"

"...Isn't a goblins' nest?" Fran asked, a little surprised.

Fran honestly didn't know much about dungeons. She knew they were places with a lot of Demonic Beasts and that they could have treasure inside of them, but that was the extent of her knowledge.

"...PUHAAHAA!" After a moment's pause, the demon broke out laughing like a maniac. "Hey, you hear that!? The brat thought your dungeon was nothing more than a stinking goblins' nest! Oh Goddess, how embarrassing."

"Stop laughing!" Shouted a goblin who had been standing in the back of the room.

Fran hadn't actually noticed it before, as the Demon was a much greater priority. If it had kept its mouth shut she probably would have never even seen it.

"What the hell are you doing?! Quickly, dispose of that… That thing!" The goblin shouted in surprisingly good common tongue, pointing at Fran with a trembling finger. It seemed that her [Goblin Slayer] title was causing him quite the scare.

It was strange to see such a small fry trying to order around a Demon.

It seemed the Demon also didn't have such a high opinion of the goblin, as he shouted back at him. "Shut it! I'll get rid of the kid in a minute, so just simmer down!"

"Damn it...! I invested all the GP I had into the Monster Lottery, drawing an extremely rare, supremely ranked Demon and yet…! Why won't it listen to my orders?! Rrrgh… and even in spite of being a skill-user type, its eager to fight head-on!" The goblin shouted in frustration.

...It did realize they could hear it, right? Not that Fran understood what he meant by 'Monster Lottery', but the bit about the Demon preferring to fight up close and personal was simple enough, and something that worked to her advantage.

"How could someone have reached all the way here...! What about my handpicked elites?!" The goblin demanded, pointing his staff at Fran and waving it angrily.

"They were all probably done in? They were only goblins." The Demon said dryly as he cleaned out one of his ears, his face reflecting his utter annoyance.

"There is no way that my army corps of goblins, the supreme creatures, could be defeated by such an inferior being!"

"Supreme creatures my ass…" The demon said, rolling his glowing silver eyes.

"What was that!? ...Gr… Regardless, I order you to crush that guy!"

"Y'know, I'd do that even without your order? Brat seem t' be pretty tough." The Demon said as he looked Fran up and down, then grinned. "Yeah, I thou' I'd sens'd somethin'. You carry the Goddess's blessing, dontcha?" He then laughed aloud again. "Makes sense! How else could a brat end up at the final room of a dungeon without knowin' it!"

Fran honestly had no idea what the Demon was talking about, but he seemed to be getting more and more excited. His wings flapped outwards, creating a wind as he raised his [Magic Barrier] and prepared for battle, swinging a long, black magic sword out to the side.

"Don' think I'm gonna go easy on you, just 'cause you got the Goddess's blessing. After all, our Goddess placed the dungeons here as a trial for your kind to prove your worth and get stronger." The Demon said as he let his battle hunger fill the room. "It is as she teaches us, those who survive will grow strong!" Then, with that one final statement, he attacked.

He was fast. Faster than anything Fran had ever seen in her waking moments, and he covered the massive room in a heartbeat, his [Sonic Thrust] caused the air to howl as it ripped it apart. The only thing that saved Fran was just how easily telegraphed the attack was.

She felt Archer's mana welling up, increasing his attack and durability in preparation for the fight. Fran did the same, pushing her mana into her limbs and activating her [Herculean Strength]. Timing the block was the easy part, but Fran hadn't understood what parrying the strength of a being that was 4 times stronger than you felt like. Even as she managed to move the Demon's trust away from her, she felt the muscles in her arms and legs tearing from the strain of the attack.

Archer had known what was coming, and as Fran readied for her counter, she already felt his [Middle Heal] flushing through her limbs, repairing the damage that had just been done.

Fran's counter swip didn't connect as she Demon managed to twist his own sword around to block. But as he blocked her swip, she used [Flash Step] three times. Pushing her mana into her forward leg, she prepared herself backwards a step, withdrawing enough to disengage her sword from the Demon's, only to immediately shoot off to the side, the moment her back foot touched the floor, using another burst of mana. Then came the charge to the Demon's unprotected side.

With the Demonic Beast putting so much into his original thrust, his body was twisted out of position. Fran was going to get a hit... Only the Demon disappeared, sinking into the ground.

[Behind you!] Archer shouted in Fran's mind as he grabbed her shoulder with his [Telekinesis] and yanked her to the side.

Fran felt the wind from the blade against her back, knowing that she had only just escaped death.

Archer grabbed her rear leg and helped her twist around and regain balance in time to face the Demon's [Double Slash], taking the first hit with a hard block and using its power to help throw her out of the way of the second, the same way that Archer had taught her too.

"Yo kid, you got some good reflexes." The Demon said without missing a beat, raising his sword up high and grabbing it in a two hand grip.

[Star Fall]

The move came down towards Fran with frightening power, but she didn't retreat. She knew that move's vulnerable areas. She took advantage of his planted feet. She pushed in, moving too close for the Demon's swing to be effective and launched a thrust of her own.

The Demon barely managed to avoid, receiving a cut as Archer ran across his side.

However, it was nothing more than a cut.

Even with Archer's edge, sharpened even further with [Vibration Fang], and Archer's [Telekinesis] adding onto Fran's already enhanced strength, it was barely a flesh wound. The monster's defenses were absolutely monstrous. Fran was sure that nothing short of a direct hit with a high level [Sword Technique] would be enough to do serious damage.

Once again, the Demon disappeared. This time, Fran was ready, and sensed it when he reappeared behind her. She managed to block his attack, but her lack of preparations sent her sprawling across the ground, only to be quickly helped back to her feet with Archer's [Telekinesis].

Her body acked, but she was once again let to recover with Archer's healing.

[He's moving around using the shadows created by the torches.] Archer informed Fran.

"Nn." Fran said, nodding her understanding, waving a hand above her head. "~Dance, O flickering lights, [Flaming Sphere]."

Small wisps of fire gathered around her fingertips before corolessing into a large sphere of fire that rose up into the area above her. The three foot wide ball of flames flooded the room in light and dispersed the shadows.

[Flaming Sphere] was a level 6 [Fire Magic] spell and would last for minute, even without Fran observing the spell, and during that time, she could move it about, keeping it above her and making sure that she cast no shadow. Normally, it was an attack spell, but Fran doubted it would be able to do any damage at all to the Demon.

"Oh, that's quite the spell you got there. You must be a Magic Swordsman." The Demon said, not seeming too concerned about the loss of his surprise attack. Though he seemed to be squinting a bit, because of the light. "Gotta say, you figured out my little trick quickly, and you managed to get that hit on me."

He lifted his arm so that Fran could see the spot that she hit, though the cut was already healing. Soon, it would be as if he had never been hit in the first place.

"My first real battle… I wasn't expecting it to be this enjoyable! Come, show me more!" The Demon shouted and returned to the battle.

As the fighting continued, Fran became better and predicting the Demon's moves working around them. His brute strength was still a problem, but so long as she didn't try to work directly against it, she could manage. She received a few glancing hits, and dealt more than her share as well. However, neither combatant cared. Archer's healing magic kept her going, just like the Demon's own natural healing rate kept him on his feet.

Fran stared up at the battle crazed grin on the Demon's face, blissfully unaware of her own exposed teeth, which mirrored his. This was different from when she had been sparring against Archer. This was a battle against overwhelming strength instead of overwhelming technique, in which it was only her skills and her ability to read her opponent that were keeping her alive as she waited for the right moment to turn the tide.

Time was no issue.

While Fran and Archer's Mana was drained by maintaining her [Flame Sphere] and her [Herculean Strength], as well as the healing spells and [Support Magic], there was no risk of her running out. With every clash, Fran and Archer drained a little of the Demon's own Mana supplies, using Archer's [Mana Drain] and [Mana Thief] abilities, and added it to their own. Unfortunately, the Demon's [Automatic MP Recovery] meant that he was recovering his own Mana faster than they could drain it. She doubted the Demon even noticed he was being sapped.

Then, during the middle of their fight, four points on the floor began to glow with magical circles and four large hobgoblins appeared. The goblin must have used his [Summon Kin] skill. Archer had informed her that he had it at level 5. "Go my servants! Kill the...!" The goblin started to shout, but stopped as all four hobgoblins dropped dead with blades embedded in their throats. "HAAA!?"

[Stay forced.] Archer reminded Fran after disposing of the sideshows.

"Oy, that's quite this skill you got there." The Demon said. "Why haven't you used it 'n me yet? Don't tell me, th'se blades you make are too dull t' cut me, right?"

It was as the Demon suspected. The max attack of the weapons Archer could conjure was around 600. However, even Archer's own body, which had been reinforced to have an attack well over 1500 and had Fran's enhanced strength behind it couldn't seriously hurt the Demon.

Even if Archer slammed him with blade after blade, he still wouldn't be able to piece the Demon's defenses. It would just be a pointless waste of Mana.

However, that didn't mean they didn't have any tricks up their sleeve.

Fran finally found what she was waiting for. The Demon's center of balance was forwards and he was using a downward swing that would put his blade parallel to her body. The moment had come and so she gave it everything she had.

Archer knew the moment had come as well, adding the full force of his [Telekinesis] to help with her swing as she ramped up her [Herculean Strength] as high as it would go. Then she activated [Elemental Blade] infusing Archer's edge with her [Lightning Magic] causing it to give off electric sparks as she swung it up towards the Demon's blade.

Right as the two made contact, Archer activated [Vibration Impact] adding a vibrating wave that went of the Demon's sword and into his arm as the electricity did the same. The Demon was shocked, literally, and rendered unable to hold onto his blade, which flew from his fingers, leaving him completely open.

"[Divine Cross Slash]!" Fran shouted, using the first level of her [Divine Sword Techniques]. While the eye could only perceive a single motion, there were indeed two attacks, one up and down while the other was across.

The technique hit the Demon straight in the stomach before he could even move and this time, the cut was deep. Blood sprayed through the air as the Demon, having recovered from his shock tried to move away.

Fran made to pursue, using her [Flash Step] skill.

However, Fran had to cancel her plans as the Demon lifted his left hand out. Dark energy flowed around it as the Demon spat out blood, declaring his spell. "[Darkness Lance]!"

Fran changed directions as fast as she could with her [Flash Step] as Archer grabbed onto her with his [Telekinesis] and cast a [Wind Magic] spell in order to help pull her out of the way of the dark beam that passed straight through the spot where Fran had been just moments ago, before slamming into the ground further back with such force as to crack the dungeon's reinforced stone floors.

Fran was frustrated at having to retreat, but she had scored the first real hit. As she saw the Demon standing there with his right hand covering the massive cross shaped wound, she knew his passive recovery wouldn't be mending that. His health was now slowly ticking down as his lost more and more blood.

"This isn't possible… This isn't possible!" The goblin screamed in fright.

"This is… s' much fun. I never ima'ined it would feel s' damn good… to have a real fight." The Demon said as he removed his right hand from the injury. His sword disappeared from the ground in a puff of shadows before returning to his hand. "Oh man. Times like this... make me wish I had [Recovery Magic]." The Demon looked up at Fran with a beastal smile. "Oi brat, how about givin' me yours?" The Demon lifted his left hand, pointing one of his long black fingers, stained red with his own blood, at the girl.

"[Skill Taker]!"

* * *

**It should say something that I honestly considered trying to contrive a way from the Demon to become Fran's familiar.**

**I like the idea of a follower of the Goddess of Chaos being a dungeon monster, as the Goddess of Chaos created the dungeons so that humans could prove themselves worthy and get stronger. So his entire purpose in life is to die in a glorious battle. (and he kind of knows it)**

**He's basically a Viking. **

**So the reason he got so angry with her in canon isn't because he (a superior being) was losing. It was because she wasn't fighting him head on and instead targeted the goblin.**

**However, there would be problems with making him Fran's familiar, starting with how would he walk around town without everyone pissing themselves.**


	10. Chapter 10

Archer felt a mixture of worry, pride and frustration as Fran's fight with the Demon raged on.

Worry that his master was facing a monster who's strength approached that of a Servants. Indeed, with 100 points in a stat being comparable to the normal human limit Archer was familiar with, the Demon's 1108 MGC was within the realm of E-rank, with his other stats not so far behind. And that was without considering his other advantages.

Despite what the goblin seemed to believe, he was most definitely toned towards close quarters combat [Darkness Reinforcement], [Magic Barrier], and [Hardened Skin] skills turning him into a hard to cut bastard. No mundane sword would be able to even put a scratch on his skin without supernatural levels of technique behind it. Meanwhile, he possessed a spell capable of letting him teleport to any shadow within his line of sight and his above average swordsmanship meant that a single moment of weakness could result in death. Then there was his most dangerous weapon, [Skill Taker], an ability nearly as frightening in single combat as some Noble Phantasms that Archer had seen, capable of completely nullifying one of their advantages, as well as strengthening the Demon, if used properly.

He was a natural born Magus Killer with all the power needed to kill Archer's new Master in an instant, and yet…

Fran was doing well. Her predictions were spot on. Her reactions were quick. She was learning how to deal with such a difference in raw power even as she struggled against it. She was fighting against an opponent which no man had any right to be fighting against, even with the level of support Archer was giving her, and she wasn't just surviving, she was winning. Even if the blew she dealt the Demon wasn't an instant kill, it was a lethal wound all the same. Archer couldn't help but well up with pride as she not only used the strategies and techniques that he had taught her during their training, but made up new ones to fit the situation.

Yes, he was feeling worry and pride for his little Master, where his frustration was directed solely at himself.

Archer could have ended this fight in a heartbeat. He could have used his [Body Split] skill to manifest a Noble Phantasm and strike down the demon in an instant. He could have used it to guarantee his master's safety, instead of letting her risk her life. However, he held back.

The [Body Split] skill was his last trump card, the greatest ability he currently had in his arsonal. Using it could certainly mean victory in this fight… but then what? One day is a long time. If he burned it now, what would he do if another situation arose, one even more bleek. Old habits made him hesitant to use his trump card, leaving Fran in danger.

However, the situation was about to take a turn for the worse.

"[Skill Taker]!"

The Skill would have normally been invisible, but [Magic Control] granted them enough magic sight to see it coming, not that they had a chance of dodging it. It simple moved too quickly. Archer nearly swore as the burst of magical energy passed through Fran and himself.

He had targeted their [Recovery Magic].

While this wasn't too big of a loss for them, as they would still possess [Healing Magic], the Demon would have gained the ability to recover from even lethal injures. This was about to become a match over who can score an instant kill first, as all other injures would be immediately healed. With the Demon's overpowered defenses and his huge strength, he had the overwhelming advantage in such a contest.

There was no longer an option. Archer would have to create a Noble Phantasm to finish the job.

* * *

Name: Brahmastra

Race: Noble Phantasm

Attack:9000 Mana: 2500/2500 Durability:10000/10000 Mana Channel: SSS

Skills:

Anti-Demon, Tracking Throw LvMax

* * *

While a Demon, the beast was not in actuality evil, however, Brahmastra wouldn't care. So long as it was a Demon, the Immortal Sword of Rama would be more than happy to kill it. Indeed, it came to Archer's mind so easily, that it was almost as if the arrow turned sword was eager to be used against the Demon.

But before Archer could let it rip and use his [Body Split] to manifest the blade, he noticed something odd. The Demon's status had not updated to show that he had [Recovery Magic]. In fact, Fran and Archer still had their [Recovery Magic].

"Tch, looks like it failed." The Demon said with an annoyed grunt. "Fuckin' RNG."

...It failed? It can do that?

{[Skill Taker] Lv6: User has a 60% chance of stealing 1 named [Skill] of Rarity 6 or less from a target within 6 meters. 6 day cooldown.}

{Due to Wielder Fran's [Favored of the Goddess of Chaos] title, all percent chance [Skills] targeting her must roll three consecutive successes in order to take effect, rendering [Skill Taker]'s chance of success 21.6%.}

[What the?] Archer said, confused by the sudden influx of information. This was different from everything else he had experienced thus far, as both Appraisal and Self-Evolution required him to actively call upon the related [Skills] in order to receive the information. Meanwhile, this had come involuntarily, as if someone else had responded to his question.

But at the same time, it had felt as if the information was coming from himself.

"Well, no point crying over it." The Demon said before starting to chant, holding his arms out. "[Darkness Lance]!" The bolt of dark energy came towards Fran, but this time, Archer was ready for it. A trio of blade appeared in the air around them and intercepted the blast. "S'… you can use that… that skill defensively too. Well, let's see if you can keep up!"

Fran began to dance around the volley of attacks that the Demon started to launch against them, with Archer offering his assistance in blocking any attack that would push them into a corner. They didn't need to push forward. The wound was deep and the Demon was bleeding out fast. It was only a matter of time before they won by bleed out.

"[Black Bomb!" The Demon created a massive ball of dark energy, twice the size of Fran's [Flaming Sphere] and set it up into the air where it shattered into a hundred smaller pieces that rained down on Fran.

[|I Am The Bone Of My Sword|!]

Consuming 500 MP, Archer created hundreds of blades to intercept the enemy attack, protecting his Master.

"Fuckin' hell… That skill… It's the [Blessing of the Sword God], isn't it?" The Demon said, chuckling between pained breathes. "Bless by both the Goddess and the Sword… You're somethin' else, brat."

A point of the ground behind the Demon began to glow, and from that spot another goblin appeared, holding a staff in its hand. "Quickly! Heal him! Before it is too late!" The odd Goblin Leader shouted at the newly summoned goblin medic, pointing towards the Demon.

A quick [Appraisal] told Archer that the new goblin was versed in [Recovery Magic], but before Archer could take action to stop him, the Demon himself raised his hand. "[Dark Lance]."

The blast of power might not have been as powerful as the shots he directed at Fran, but the attack still turned the goblin medic to ash.

"What are you doing!? That was an ally you buffoon!" The goblin shrieked.

"Shut… the hell up." The Demon said between pants. "This… is my fight. Stay out of it."

"You idiot! Do you have any idea what will happen if you die here!?" The goblin shouted in near hysteria.

"The dungeon will be conquered... Just as is should be." The Demon said, shocking the goblin. "You never understood… the purpose of a dungeon. The dungeon doesn't exist t' give worms like you a means... t' create your own personal army t' conquer the land." The Demon spat out a mouthful of blood before continuing. "The dungeon exists t' give motivation and means for those who are worthy t' become strong."

"Wh… what?" The goblin was speechless as the Demon held himself high, ignoring his wounds.

"I am a dungeon monster. So if this brat slays me… drains me for all the EXP I'm worth... and uses my hide to make herself a goddamn pair of boots… then I will go to the Goddess's side… having fulfilled my purpose." The Demon said, throwing the goblin a withering glare that sent the creature away, trembling in fear. "I don't give a shit about you, or your stinking goblin kingdom. I will not let anything... stand in the way of me and my purpose."

The Demon stretched out his wings and focused as much of his power as he could, using his [Darkness Reinforcement] to push himself forward, using the raw power to hold his wound closed and slow the bleeding as much as he could. He was only delaying the inevitable, and burning vast amounts of Mana to do it, but he didn't seem to care. "Brat, my time is short... prove t' me that you are worthy!"

(Archer?) Fran said to the sword as she tightened her grip.

Archer could feel what she wanted. It was stupid. They only needed to wait and watch as the Demon bled himself to death. However, he understood the sentiment. [I am your sword. For you goals I will fight.]

"Nn!" Fran nodding her head sharply.

"Ha… ha… Tell me brat… what is your name?" The Demon asked.

"Fran."

"Fran… I'll remember that." The Demon said before giving a roar and charging forward to meet the girl in battle.

Injured as he was, his strength was far greater than before. He was using his magic to reinforce his body to a beyond reckless degree, knowing full well that he wouldn't live long enough to suffer the consequences. It didn't matter to him that his body was breaking down from the strain of his attacks. One way or another, he would die.

Fran fought back, doing her best to hold her ground until a hard blow from the Demon launched her up into the air. "[Darkness Lance]!" The Demon shouted, firing his burst of power towards the airborne girl, only for her to dodge it though the use of [Flash Step] and Archer's [Telekinesis] and [Wind Magic].

"~Dance, O flickering lights, [Flaming Sphere]!" Fran shouted her own spell, calling on a second ball of fire, placing it directly between her and the Demon.

The Demon grunted and shielded his eyes from the sudden light. He backed away, looking left and right of the sphere, preparing to fire his own spell as soon as the girl made her move.

However, to his shock, she didn't come from either side of the sphere, but through it.

Archer charged up his [Telekinesis] as hard as he safely could as Fran launched her 8th level [Sword Technique], [Dragon's Fang]. It was an attack that manipulated the flow of energy around the point of impact to pierce through defenses.

The Demon didn't have time to react and the pair slammed into his chest at high speeds, Archer's blade digging deep into the monster's chest, cutting into his Magic Stone, quickly draining its energy away.

The Demon let out a soft gasp of shock… and then he died. His final laugh frozen on his face.

After rolling off the Demon, Fran was quickly doused in water using [Create Aqua], before healing her burns. Looked up, having beaten her greatest opponent, a distant look in her eyes. It was clear that victory didn't taste as sweet as she wanted it to.

Archer watched as she stepped over to the Demon's body, reclaimed him from within his chest. Then, the girl went down onto her knees, clasped her hands together… and she prayed.

"Thank you." She said softly.

(Fran's level increased from 19 to 26. New title(s) unlocked: Big Game Hunter, Demon Slayer)

* * *

"Inconceivable. Inconceivable!" The goblin repeated to itself as it backed away from the monster disguised as a human-like child.

How could his Demon, his B-rank threat Demon, a beast who should have been able to single handedly bring an entire country to its knees, loss to such a small, insignificant being?

'You never understood.'

When the goblin had become the Dungeon Master of a brand new dungeon, he had believed that he was chosen. That he had been chosen to lead his people out of the shadows. To kill off the kingdoms of man and create a new kingdom, a Goblin Kingdom. When he had managed to draw one of the ultimate Fiend-type monsters in a random draw, he had believed it to be destiny… but now...

Was the Demon right? Had he not been made Dungeon Master in order to lead his people, but rather to simply so him and his army could die so that one of his hated enemies could grow stronger?

"No! I refuse to believe it! It can't end like this!" The goblin had pushed himself all the way back to the wall, bumping into the Dungeon Core.

His eyes widened as he accessed the core and saw that his Goddess Points had increased. The death of the Demon inside of his dungeon had refunded him enough points to perform another random summoning.

...Could it work? Could he summon a creature capable of turning this all around? The odds were against him. The chances of summoning a Demonic Beast of B-rank or higher was less than 0.07%. More than likely, he would just get another army beetle, or something of similar rank.

But what did he have to lose? Nothing he could summon from normal means would be worth anything at this point. It was time to put his luck to the test. It was do or die.

And so, the goblin triggered the random summoning.

The entire world seemed to shake as a magic circle, nearly a quarter the size of the final room appeared in the center of the stone floor. The intruder stopped in his strange praying ritual and the Demon's body seemed to vanish into thin air as the creature grabbed its sword and jumped away from the circle.

The goblin couldn't help himself. He just started to laugh as the massive frame of a dragon pushed itself up out of the circle.

"Yes! Yes my Servant! Destroy the intruders!"

The dragon didn't respond with any of the backtalk that the goblin had gotten used to hearing. It only let out an earth trembling roar.

The goblin's luck hadn't run out yet.

* * *

Moonlight Dragon Lv 57/70

Race: Dragon (Demonic Beast)

HP: 13813, MP: 6404, STR: 5270, END: 5723

AGI: 2652, INT: 2636, MGC: 2908, DEX: 2028

Skills:

Water Magic LvMax, Ocean Magic Lv2, Wind Magic LvMax, Gale Magic Lv2, Ice Magic Lv4, Moonlight Magic Lv8, Claw Techniques LvMax, Claw Arts LvMax, Divine Claw Techniques Lv3, Divine Claw Arts Lv4, Abnormal Status Resistance LvMax, Night Vision, Automatic MP Recovery, Automatic HP Recovery,

Innate Skill:

Dragon Arts Lv6

Extra Skill:

Principle of an Element(Mirror) Lv7 , Moon Phase Empowerment LvMax

Description:

Being a Dragon with a deep connection to the Moonlight Goddess, the Moonlight Dragon's power waxes and wanes with the phases of the moons. When the largest of the world's seven moons is full, this Demonic Beast's power triples, causing it to be one of the most powerful A-rank threats in the world. It is thought that if all seven moons were full at once, the Dragon would become an S-rank threat. It has a nearly perfect defense as half the force of any attack made against it is negated and rebounds upon the source. Magic Stone Location: Heart

* * *

**Self-Evolving:**

**(Rank 9 | Memory 75 | Points 128) → (Rank 10 | Magic Stone Value 4521/5500 |Memory 89 | Points 178)**

**ATK: 478 → 524 MP: 2500 → 3000 Durability: 2300 → 2800 Mana Channel: A+**

**Skill Unlocked: Shape Shifting**

**Wielder Status Up (Low) → Wielders Status Up (Intermediate)**

* * *

**For those of you that are talking about it, in order for the Demon to have become Fran's familiar, they would have had to get around the rule that Dungeon Monsters die when the Dungeon Master dies. They would have had to somehow get him the Shape Shifting skill and the Appraisal Blocking skill. And then even after they did all that, he still has his Control Immunity skill, so they would have no way of stopping him from killing every unworthy person they met, in accordance to his goddess's wishes.**

**He is a viking. You just can't keep a pet viking. They are what you would get if you turned being a murder hobo into a religion.**

**Perhaps Fran summoning a different Demon, with a bit of a different skill set could work, but not this Demon.**

* * *

**The Dragon's stats in Servant lingo (The + refers to how the stats triple during a full moon)**

**Strength A++**

**Endurance A++**

**Agility D++**

**Mana D++ (Almost C++)**

**Luck N/A**

**Noble Phantasm(s) N/A**

**PS. Just so you know it is the new moon at this time in canon. ****(No, seriously.) ****They lucked out. **

* * *

**I put in what the stats of a Noble Phantasm would look like, just so you would have a good frame of reference. (That one is an A-rank anti-unit, so 50x stronger than a normal weapon(we'll say that is around 400 attack), then decrease that by about 60% because of it being recreated by [Body Split])**


	11. Chapter 11

A dragon. A MOTHER FUCKING DRAGON! GODDAMN IT!

Archer had known that there was something up with this place. The energy being drained from the fallen, along with the power it was pulling from what Archer was now understanding to be a Leyline underneath the ground. This entire place was one giant summoning circle, and the Demon's life had provided the last scraps of energy to power it up. And now they were locked into an underground chamber with a giant winged lizard.

This is why you must NEVER rush into a situation completely blind!

The Dragon's stats were easily five times higher than the Demon's had been, and its defenses were Conceptual Weapon levels of unfair. It had the ability to negate half the damage of any attack directed at it and reflect that damage at its source. Without proper knowledge of how it worked, Archer was unsure if he could kill the thing, even if he did use his [Body Split] skill. If he used a Noble Phantasm, that might just result in their mutual destruction.

The Moonlight Dragon was well over thirty feet tall, with his horns strapping up against the ceiling, even as its neck was bent over. Its body was almost entirely black with a few streaks of white, a color pattern that was also displayed by its horns. A sense of power and mystery rolled off of its body. It might have been beautiful, under better circumstances.

But with the current situation being what it was...

[Fran, we need to get out of here!] Archer shouted as he tried to figure out how they were going to be getting through the massive door. Earlier experiments had taught him that [Earth Magic] would not work inside of this strange place, but perhaps the [Dark Magic] that they had gained from the Demon would help.

After absorbing the Demon's max level [Dark Magic] Skill, they had already achieved level 3 [Dark Magic]. However, that was still not high enough to use the transport spell that the Demon used.

Archer quickly dumped 6 Self-evolution points into it and then swore as he discovered that the spell could only be used to travel up to 15 meters, and only into a shadow within line of sight.

He needed another option, so Archer activated [Parallel Thought] in order to allow him to search for a solution. Any solution.

But while he was diving into himself, trying to find a way of getting his Master out of this alive, Fran began to move… working straight towards the beast. [You are not fighting that...]

"Mama… Mama, don't go!" Fran shouted, Archer slipping through her fingers as started to run towards the dragon. Fran's conditional status had been changed from normal to 'hypnotized'.

[FRAN!] Archer mentally screamed at her as loud as he could, but it didn't penetrate whatever spell the dragon had placed on her. The girl rushed straight towards the dragon, who started to lift one of its massive claws. [NO!]

As the Dragon struck, Archer did the only thing he could. He triggered his [Body Split] skill, using it to defend his master.

* * *

Name: Achilles' Shield

Race: Noble Phantasm

Defense:5000 Durability: Indestructible

Skills:

Impenetrable

* * *

A massive bronze shield, decorated with the symbols of the Greek Zodiac appeared between Fran and the Dragon's massive claw, right before the beasts would have crushed the tiny girl like a bug. Archer, using his [Telekinesis], did his best to force Fran into a ball as the Dragon's attack pushed the shield down on top of her.

Achilles' Shield was curved outwards, making a cavity between it and the ground just large enough for Fran to be squeezed into. But even if the shield had provided a barrier between Fran and the attack, the force by which she had been knocked to the ground had not been insignificant, as the girl's HP dropped like a stone and Archer had to rush with a [Greater Heal] just to stop her from dying.

"Mama, please don't die. Don't leave me. mama…!" Fran continued to cry, not seeming to have felt the pain at all.

[Fran, I need you to wake up! We don't have the time for...]

*BOOM* *BOOM*

The Dragon was slamming its claws against the face of the shield again and again. The magical claws striking against the solid surface of the shield, knocking it back and forth across the stone ground. It was only by using his [Telekinesis] that Archer stopped the shield from flipping over and exposing the girl underneath.

The Dragon was strong, but Achilles' Shield was stronger. It was a shield which had seen the fields of Troy, and had passed through that legendary battlefield without so much as a scratch being left on its surface. Even an A-rank Noble Phantasm, wielded by a Servant, would not be enough to break it.

That said, all things have their weaknesses.

The Dragon put its claws on either side of the shield, but its giant fingers couldn't get the leverage needed to lift it up. So instead, it lifted its head back, and did what dragons are most known for.

The flames washed over the shield's surface as the Dragon began to cook Fran alive, causing her HP to once again drop.

[Middle Heal] [Middle Heal] [Middle Heal] [Middle Heal]

Archer cast the spell over and over again, restoring his master every time her body began to burn.

He couldn't keep this up. The mana drain was too quick.

Archer once again turned to his Skill, selecting [Magic Barrier] and spending the 27 Self-Evolution Points needed to raise it to its maximum level. The barrier worked, shielding Fran from the worst of the fires effects and buying Archer a moment to think.

"Yes! That's it! Kill that thing! Roast it alive…" The goblin cheered on the Dragon… until a sword impacted against his chest. The Dragon didn't seem to care, or even notice.

Archer hadn't really expected it to. He just wanted that goblin to shut the hell up.

Archer began to trace weapons, identical copies of the Demon's Magic Sword, and fired them at the Dragon, hoping to draw it away. It didn't work. The Dragon didn't even care as the swords slammed into it, the reflected damage to the blades causing them to crack during the moment of impact. It just kept attacking the shield, trying to get at the still crying Fran.

The current situation was more manageable than before, but it was only a matter of time before the dragon realized that its current strategy wasn't working. Before then Archer needed to find a way to snap Fran out of it.

[Skill Taker] Lv1: User has a 10% chance of stealing 1 named [Skill] of Rarity 1 or less from a target within 1 meters. 1 day cooldown.

It would appear that [Skill Taker] could steal a [Skill] of rarity equal to its level, and had a chance of success equal to 10% x [Skill Taker]'s level. So in order to have a 100% chance of stealing a skill, you would need to max out [Skill Taker]'s level.

However, his experiences with upgrading the [Body Split] skill had taught Archer that his [Skills] would have their cooldown's reset when he upgrades them. So he had as many as 10 chances to steal, and could perhaps steal multiple Skills. The problem was knowing which skills to target.

Even with maxed out [Appraisal], he wasn't told what the rarity of an individual skill was. He might even end up wasting attempts if he wasn't careful.

Well, the most important skills to take would be [Moonlight Magic], [Dragon Arts], [Principle of an Element (Mirror)] and [Moon Phase Empowerment], as one of these skills was likely the cause of Fran's sudden hypnosis. He should probably just focus on them until he got a success and them move to the next one.

{Warning: [Skill Taker] cannot effect Innate Skills or Extra Skills.}

Archer swore as the strange voice, which he now recognized as being slightly feminen, echoed in the back of his thoughts. [I don't suppose you can tell me which [Skills] I should target?]

{Calculating… 10 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Upgrading [Appraisal] to [Eye of Empyrea]... Upgrade complete.}

Archer mentally blinked as he felt something using up his Self-evolution Points, and then a moment later, his Appraisal was now showing him the rarities of the skills. [Um… thanks.] Archer said before looking over the skills and cursing again. [Dragon Arts], [Principle of an Element (Mirror)] and [Moon Phase Empowerment] where all either Innate or Extra Skills and [Moonlight Magic] apparently had a rarity of 11.

His [Eye of Empyrea] now told him that [Moonlight Magic] was the rarest of all magics, and dealt with spells capable of reflecting both light and magic, as well as spells to attack an individual's mind. It was only learnable by a select few Demonic Beasts and those mortal who have been blessed by the Moonlight Goddess. Because it required both the Goddess's blessing and the training to develop it, it was rarer than even Unique Skills, which could only be gifted to people by the Gods. Even if he maxed out [Skill Taker], he couldn't take it.

This was bad. He couldn't wake Fran up. Even if he did, how would that help? They were still trapped in a magically locked room with a goddamn dragon, and Archer had been forced to use his only use of [Body Split] for the day on defending Fran's life.

His trump card was gone and they were out of options. If only he could get another use out of [Body Split].

{Calculating… 10 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Installing the Self-specialization add-on… installing… Installation complete.}

Archer's Self-evolution Skill suddenly gained a new function, Self-specialization. By spending 10 Self-evolution Points, he could upgrade a maxed level Slotted Skill into a Specialized Skill.

{Self-specialization: Activated. 10 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. [Body Split] has been specialized into [Doppelganger Synthesis SP]. Activating [Doppelganger Synthesis SP]}

* * *

A murderous intent fluid the room, so intense as to make the Moonlight Dragon stopped its attack as its survival instincts forced it to take a step back.

Across the room, closer to the door, was another intruder. A man, taller than the other with white hair and darker skin, he was garbed in black and red and gave off an aura of danger as he looked at the dragon with piercing silver eyes. In his hands were a pair of pitch black long swords, held at his sides.

"I suggest you get away from my Master." The human… was it a human?... said with a chilling voice.

The Dragon paused, but remembered the Dungeon Master's orders. "Destroy the intruders."

It let out of roar of challenge and used its [Moonlight Magic] to send another mental attack at the new arrival, only for the [Prison of Nightmares] spell to have no effect at all. It would seem that the Dragon would actually have to fight this one.

{[Doppelganger Synthesis SP] parameters set: single duplicate of 50% strength, 3 minute duration. Cooldown: 60 hours }

"Three minutes? That is more than enough time to make this lizard pay for what it has done to my Master." Archer said as he lifted up the copies of the Demon's Demonic-Steel Longsword and prepared for a fight. "Once I'm done with you, I'm going to turn you into a pair of boots."

* * *

Name: Nameless

Age: N/A

Race: Servant | Intelligent Weapon (Doppelganger)

Job: Hero of the Bow

Status: Normal

Level: N/A

HP: 5721, MP: 7508, STR: 1344, END: 1635, AGI: 1748, INT: 2132, MGC: 2230, DEX: 1837

* * *

The Dragon's head snapped forward like a viper's, attempting to bite the manifested Servant with jaws large enough to swallow him whole. It was an attack that was so fast that most people wouldn't have even been able to follow it with their eyes.

However, Archer was not most people.

Not only could he follow it, he timed his attack to intercept the attack at the very last moment, usings all his strength in a slash that parried the beasts massive head, using the momentum of his swing to knock its attack off course, as well as pushing himself to the side.

*SHATTER*

The black blades shattered as the damage they dealt was reflected upon them. While to any other fighter, this would have spelt the end for them, it wasn't even an inconvenience for the Faker. All he had to do was make more.

Before a moment's breath could pass, Archer had another pair of black blades in his hands and was attacking the Dragon's extended head. Four more attacks, four more broken swords. One blow to the underside of the neck. *SHATTER* A blow to the back of the jaw. *SHATTER* A strike over the nose. *SHATTER* A thrust into the creature's right eye. *SHATTER*

The Dragon's scream of pain was music to Archer's ears and it's head shoot back up, bashing itself into the ceiling. Most of its attacks had hardly did anything at all, but even the Dragon's mystic defenses didn't protect it from getting a sword shoved into its eye.

As it raged, batting its wings in the confined space, the temperature dropped and ice started to form all around the room. A wave of icicles flew towards Archer, who started to move in on the Dragon. He dipped and weaved, dodging all of the incoming shafts of ice as he approached the Dragon, which slashed out at him with a claw that glowed with mana.

[Vorpal Claw] a 10th level [Claw Technique]. It bends space as it goes, creating an area effect which can penetrate some armor and drags targets into the line of the physical attack.

"[Skill Taker].[Skill Taker].[Skill Taker]."

([Skill Taker] Lv1: Target:[Claw Arts]: Rarity 1. Chances: 27.1% Result: Success)

([Skill Taker] Lv2: Target:[Claw Techniques]: Rarity 2. Chances: 48.8% Result: Failure)

([Skill Taker] Lv3: Target:[Claw Techniques]: Rarity 2. Chances: 65.7% Result: Success)

The [Vorpal Claw] fizzled out as the [Skills] supporting it was lost, letting Archer easily dodge the half assed swing of the claw and climb up onto the beast's arm, running up along its length and delivering a strong blow to the base of its neck. *SHATTER* *SHATTER* Two more swords broke, leaving long scars across the Dragon's scaled neck.

The Dragon raved about, throwing Archer off of him, right before the Servant had a chance to go for the Dragon's wings. Though Archer didn't fall far away and easily landed on his feet.

The Dragon, turning its head to see him, opened its mouth and prepared to let loose a burst of flames.

Archer had been ready for this. A massive black bow appeared in his hand, along with a long black bolt. Before the Dragon could let out its drawn in breath, Archer had the projectile pulled back and let it fly. It went straight into the Dragon's mouth, piercing straight through the dragon's uvula.

Pain forced the creature to shut its jaws, causing it fiery breath to come squirting out of its noise, sending it spluttering, and as it did so, Archer prepared himself to finish the job.

"I Am The Bone Of My Sword." Archer said, drawing of his vast stores of Mana.

The world reared up, confused as something was being brought into existence. Something that didn't have any place there. But Archer didn't care. Using over 5000 units of Mana, he forced the world to accept his version of reality, forcing it to accept this weapon, and the legend that came with it.

Which Noble Phantasm to use had been a question. The Dragon's scales were hard and its mystical defense was broken as all hell. However, that didn't make raw power the way to go. Balmung and Arondight were both powerful Dragon Slaying swords, known for their destructive abilities, but Archer had a feeling they would not work well in this unusual case. The damage they dealt would immediately be reflected upon them, causing the blades to destroy themselves before they got further than the first layer of scales and flesh.

No, raw power wasn't the solution, so Archer picked a different Dragon Slayer, one known more for its durability.

"Dragon of sin, you now face Ascalon." Archer said as the 'Blessed Sword By Which Force is Slain' manifested within his hand, glowing with power as its legend was called into effect.

Archer knew that time was short. Even after expending the majority of his Mana, the world was seeking to undo his creation. So he rushed forward and aimed for the base of the Dragon's neck.

The Dragon's [Principle of an Element(Mirror)] came into effect, increasing its defense in respect to the attack and rebounding the counter acted force… only to run into Ascalon's own effect.

Ascalon was a blade known better for its defensive properties than its offensive ones. But when fighting against dragons, the blade would turn defensive power into offensive power. Both the blade's own defense, and the defense of the dragon it was attacking.

It was defense which scales with the aggressor's attack pitted against an attack that scaled with the target's defense. A loop was created and the force on both the blade and the dragon grew stronger and stronger.

However, unlike Ascalon's indestructible blade, the Dragon's neck could only take so much. The blade passed clean through the Dragon's tick neck and sent the head spinning through the air, finish the fight in less than a single minute.

(Fran's level increased from 26 to 33. New title(s) unlocked: Dragon Slayer)

* * *

**Before anyone says anything, the Goblin DM isn't dead. He had a Sacrificial Bracelet on. As Archer isn't exactly a gamer, he wouldn't have a clue what that even means.**

* * *

**Update on Fran's stats.**

Name: Fran

Age: 12

Race: Black Catkin

Job: None

Status: Normal

Level: 33/45

HP: 341, MP: 253, STR: 208, END: 183, AGI: 191, INT: 152, MGC: 150, DEX: 153

Titles: Fire Mage, Lord of Cooking, Lord of Dismantling, Lord of Digging, Skill Collector, Incarnation of the Sword, Favored of the Goddess of Chaos, Cadet of Hell's Training, (New) Lord of Climbing, (New) Goblin Slayer, (New) Insect Slayer, (New) Demon Slayer, (New) Dragon Slayer, (New) Recovery Mage, (New) Wind Mage, (New) One Man Army, (New) One Who Slaughters, (New) Big Game Hunter, (New) Skill Maniac

Equipment: Nameless, High-Quality Wyvern Leather Armor (Heavily Damage), Good-Quality Wyvern (Heavily Damaged)

* * *

Big Game Hunter: Awarded to one who overcomes an overwhelmingly difficult opponent alone.

Effect: +20 HP, +5 to all stats, +1 to all stats with each level up.

* * *

Skill Maniac: Awarded to one who has collected over 100 skills.

Effect: Skills are easier to obtain and level up faster.

* * *

**In the course of the fight, Archer used 79 Self-Evolution Points, leaving him with 99 left. Just goes to show how fast these things go when you are actually using them.**


	12. Chapter 12

Fran snapped awake to find herself in the dark. Her panting breaths drawing in hot air that stun her sore throat. One of her hands came up to clamp on her nose as the smell of burned flesh assaulted her senses. Her other hand moved up to find a metal dome pressing down on her.

She was confused and shaken from the visions of her mother's death, so real that she could have sworn she was back in that forest again, watching it all happen. She tried to think back, to figure out how she had gotten there. The last thing she could remember was her and Archer defeating the Demon, and then a massive magical circle appeared… She wasn't sure what happened after that. She just started to have those visions, and then she woke up to find herself alone in this dark, smelly place.

'Alone.'

A sudden, horrifying realization struck her and she desperately searching about her with both hands, ignoring the offensive smell.

"Archer?" Fran said, panic starting to well up inside of her as she could not find the sword who was her teacher and companion. "Archer!?"

All of the sudden, the metal dome above her began to dissolve and Fran found that she was still in the underground chamber where she had been fighting the Demon. Only... the place was much more on fire than she remembered it being. There was also ice and large broken pieces of the ceiling scattered across the floor.

That wasn't even mentioning the hundred thousand pound decapitated dragon lying in the center of the room, its blood pouring out. The shield had been keeping it mostly away from her, but with it gone, the liquid quickly moved to cover the hole.

And standing between Fran and the dead dragon was a figure that she had seen every time she slept at night for the last week. "Archer?" Fran asked softly as she looked up at the white haired man.

"What were you thinking!?" Archer shouted at her, causing Fran's ears to flinch at the sudden noise. "Did you think that a single week's training and a fancy sword means that you are invincible!? Your cockiness could have and should have gotten you killed! It is only dumb luck that you are still…!"

Archer stopped as he saw Fran's shaking body. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She had been prepared to kill. She had been prepared to die. But she hadn't been prepared for what the dragon had done to her.

Archer knelt down next to the girl and brought her into a hug, patting the back of her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you." Archer said softly. "You've shown so much potential, that I forgot just how inexperienced you are. I neglected to teach you the importance of information on the battlefield."

"Information?" Fran said, not sure what he meant.

"That's right. Most battles are won or lost based solely on the information one side has on the other. By knowing your opponent and knowing the battlefield, you can take full advantage of their weaknesses, while minimizing their strengths." Archer said calmly. "For example, do you know what the third level of [Dark Magic] is?"

Fran frowned as the thought to the [Skills] that she and Archer shared. Then her eyes widened. "[Steal Thoughts]."

"That's right. It is a spell that can render those who lack a form of mental resistance, or have an intelligence greater than half the magic of the user, immediately unconscious. If the Demon had used it on you, you would have been powerless to fight back." Archer said, explaining the spell.

"...He didn't."

"That's right. He likely assumed that since you were strong enough to fight him, that you would be able to resist it. Because he lacked information about you, he failed to use it. And because you lacked knowledge about the spell, you fought him without knowing just how much danger you were in."

Fran's ears flattened against her head. She felt ashamed of the pride she had felt at having been able to overcome the Demon.

"You need to learn that there is a difference between courage and recklessness. It is not cowardly to hold off on fighting an opponent until you have the tools and knowledge to tilt the odds in your favor. If we had pulled back today instead of rushing in, we could have found out about the cave's function. We would have known not to farm the insects. We would have known to kill the goblin before he could activate the summoning." Archer said. "To fight against unknown odds in order to protect something is courageous. To do so when you don't have to is just reckless. It is better to take the information you have gained and come up with a plan of action than to rush in blind."

"...Archer has ran away?" Fran asked the man.

"...More times than I care to count. And every time I did, I would return better prepared to win the fight when it really mattered." Archer said, releasing Fran from his hug so that he could look down at her with a smile. "You fought well today. I'm proud of you for that, but in the future, use some caution. Any true warrior knows that a lack of knowledge is the most dangerous enemy of all."

"Nn." Fran said, nodding her head before noticing small bits of blue light flaking away from Archer's body. "Archer?"

"Hm… Seems like my time is up. Well, it was fun while it lasted." Archer said with a sad smile and a shrug. Then, his entire body burst into glowing blue dust.

"Archer!" Fran shouted in panic, trying to reach out for the lights as the dimmed and faded away. "No. Please… don't leave me. Archer!"

[Calm down. I'm not died.] A familiar voice said in the back of Fran's mind. She turned around to see Archer's sword body floating towards her. [It was only my [Skill] expiring. So no crying.] Fran felt Archer's [Telekinesis] wiping away her tears. [You aren't going to get rid of me that easily, Master.]

"Nn." Fran said, throwing her arms around Archer's hilt, ignoring his protests about being sharp.

"Impossible." Another voice said, earning Fran and Archer's immediate attention. It was the goblin, his clothes covered in blood, but still somehow alive. "That's impossible. How could my dragon be defeated by a human?"

[What the? I thought I already killed you.] Archer said, his voice projecting and causing the goblin to flinch.

"Who said that!?" It shouted, jumping back up to his feet. "You… you can't kill me… not so long as I have my Sacrificial... Brace...let… oh." The goblin shouts died out as he looked at his raised arm to find that the 'Sacrificial Bracelet' was broken. "Right… one time use."

Those would be the last words he ever spoke.

(Fran has gained a new title: Dungeon Conqueror.)

[Well, that's that.] Archer said as Fran pulled him out of the goblin's chest. They should probably dispose of the magic orb in the wall that the goblin used to summon the dragon, so that this kind of shit never happened again, but after that they could finally get out of that stupid cave.

Only, before the two could make a move, another magic circle appeared on the ground.

Fran jumped back and raised Archer once more, ready in case of a battle, but instead of a battle, there was a large golden treasure chest. Archer didn't know what to think of it. "Dungeon treasure." Fran said. She seemed to have collected herself and was back to normal, her excited voice still managing to be a little monotone. The then frowned and backed away. "Might be trap. Archer: open."

[Ah… right.] Archer said before using his [Telekinesis] to open it up. The two of them stood still, waiting for something to happen, but when nothing did, they approached the chest.

"...What are they?" Fran asked, tilting her head as she looked down into a chest containing twenty yellow metal ingots. "Gold bars?"

[No. Not gold.] Archer said, more than a little startled as he looked at the stuff. [It's… It's Orichalcum.]

In his old world, Orichalcum had been a naturally occurring mystical metal that disappeared from the world after the end of the Age of the Gods. To actually find some of it was enough to put the Servant into shock, and so much of it. There was over fifty pounds of the stuff.

"Valuable?" Fran asked.

[I have no idea how much it would be worth here, but where I came from, it wouldn't matter how much you asked people for it, they would gladly pay, and many of those who lacked the money would have thrown their lives away trying to steal it.] Archer said, thinking of how rabidly a group of Magus would act if a single bar of true orichalcum was tossed into a room with them.

"Wow. Good find." Fran said, before Archer shoveled the chest into his storage, along with the dragon's corpse. Another priceless thing that they would have to decide what to do with later.

[Alright, now to destroy that core so that...] Archer started before being interrupted a second time by the sound of doors opening in the insect room.

"Strong." Fran said, summarizing Archer's feelings on the matter as they sensed what had to be eight separate C-rank magical signatures heading their way.

Fran and Archer dashed into the corner of the room and hid in the shadows using [presence concealment]. They would analysis this new threat from the shadows and plan their ambush.

However, they were surprised when the doors to the final room opened and rather than a group of Demonic Beasts, a group of a dozen human-like people came storming in with weapons raised. They looked around the room at the blood and the dead body of the goblin before one of the Dwarves turned his head and shouted back over his shoulder. "Looks like this room's been cleared out too."

"Yes, I can see that." Said a 'Wood Elf' dressed in impressive silver robs as he entered the room behind the rest. Fran's eyes widened as she saw him, or rather the eight masses of plantlike beings that flowed around him, glowing with magical energy. Each one gave off power comparable to a C-rank Demonic Beast, and the eight of them together seemed strong enough to even handle the Demon she had fought. "It would seem that whatever had been happening is already over. I guess we should be relieved."

* * *

Name: Klimt

Age: 136

Race: Wood Elf

Job: Greater Spirit User

Status: Normal

Level: 67/99

HP: 180, MP: 616, STR: 87, END: 89, AGI: 138, INT: 259, MGC: 333, DEX: 98

Skills: Chant Shortening Lv7, Appraisal Lv5, Archery Lv3, Harvesting Lv5, Nature Magic Lv6, Spirit Magic Lv7, Earth Magic LvMax, Mountain Magic Lv6, Compounding Lv5, Poison Resistance Lv3, Paralysis Resistance Lv4, Water Magic Lv5, Medicinal Herb Knowledge Lv7, Cooking Lv4, Magic Manipulation, Child of the Forest

Unique Skills: Blessing of the Spirits

Titles: Guild Master, Guardian Deity of Aressa, Nature Mage, Earth Mage

Equipment: Staff of the Old God's Cherry Tree, Scale Clothing of the Fission Snake, Cloak of the Young Wind Dragon's wings, Shoes of the Moon Rabbit, Sacrificial Bracelet

* * *

Klimt should have been relieved. He SHOULD have been, but he wasn't.

It had been three hours since a group of rookies came in to his office talking about signs of a coming Goblin Stampede, and two hours since the three D-rank teams he sent to investigate reported the finding of a Dungeon baring Goblin territorial markings.

Naturally, he called on the best men he had on hand and began to cordon off the place, to make sure that no horde of goblins split off to attack a nearby village why the City Knights once again sat on their asses behind the walls.

Because of how horrible the timing of this event was, with their A-rank ace and all of their B-rank adventurers off on an exploration mission, along with a majority of their C-rank teams, Klimt headed the deployment himself. He sent the knights a request for reinforcements before rushing to where the Dungeon had been found.

However, things at the Dungeon just didn't seem right.

Even before reaching the dungeon, they came across a battlefield covered in a massive amount of blood and signs of spell work… but no bodies. Over a hundred must have died in that single patch of woods, and not long ago, so where were the bodies?

The Dungeon itself was unnaturally quiet for the longest time, and the familiars that they sent in to scout the place could not find any sign of life, save for small bits of battle damage here and there, and a few easily overlooked patches of blood.

Not liking what they weren't seeing, Klimt organized a group of their remaining C-rank Adventurers and a few brave D-rank men and dove into the tunnels. They dove deeper and deeper and the lack of enemies became even more ominous, until they started to reach some of the last few rooms.

Hundreds of hobgoblin bodies, charred from powerful fire magic lay scattered about the room. Each and every one of them also bore a blade wound on its chest, as if whoever had killed them had carved out their magic stones in order to make sure they were truly dead. Klimt couldn't think of any other reason why anyone would stop to go after Hobgoblin stones, as they were considered to be simple scrap stones and not worth the time it would take to retrieve them for any warrior capable of doing… this.

It was around that point when the world started to shake and sounds of battle came from behind a locked door at the far side of the room. It had been loud enough to make some of the D-rank adventurer's pale at the thought of what awaited them.

The sounds only lasted a few minutes and when they stopped, the door forward unlocked, as if inviting them in.

Klimt and the rest made their preparations, taking a few minutes to cast some buff magic and secure their arms and armor. Klimt himself performed a complex ritual in order to summon eight Greater Spirits, each as powerful as a high ranking C class Demonic Beast, all in preparation for what was to come.

They pushed through the first door and were greeted by the sight of hundreds, maybe even thousands of dead insect-type Demonic Beasts, each one seemingly treated to the same havisting that they witnessed in the room before. They proceeded with caution until they reached another set of doors.

Tension was high as they pushed the doors open and the front line fighters rushed in… only to yet again find no trace of life.

"This is so damn weird." Herbent said as his eyes shifted about the room. "This is the final room. Why is there nothing in it?"

"Not nothing." Ark said as he approached the singular body in the room, that of a goblin. He pulled out a knife and stabbed the thing in the neck as he approached.

"You know it was already dead." Herbent said, eyeing the heavily armored Adventurer.

"Can't be too careful." Ark replied as he looked the goblin over, giving him an appraisal. Ark might not have had high combat stats, but he was brought along all the same because of his almost peerless skill with traps, his high appraisal ability, and his familiarity with goblins. "This one is a Rare Goblin. Seems to be the Dungeon Master too."

"So, the Dungeon's already been conquered. Guess we get to go home." Donna Dorondo said as the Kijin shouldered his massive axe.

"Not yet. We still need to secure the Dungeon Core, and determine just what it is that happened here." Klimt reminded them.

"Ah… yeah. I guess you're right." Donna Dorondo said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

"Guild Master, you might want to take a look at this." Ark called out from next to an especially large pool of blood. "This ain't goblin blood."

"What? Can you tell by the smell?" Herbent joked as he too came closer.

As soon as he entered range of it, Klimt used his own [Appraisal] on the pool of blood, and his eyes widened at the result. "Dragon's blood."

Jaws dropped.

"A dragon!? As in a 'dragon' dragon." "Is there some other type of dragon!?" "Holy hell, even the weakest dragon's are a B-rank threat." "There must have been an entire group in here, fighting that thing."

"Where did the body go?" Ark said, getting all of their attention. "We've got the blood right here, but where's the body? The sounds of battle weren't any more that five minutes old before we came through that door. How could anyone have smuggled that thing out passed us?"

"So, we are dealing with someone [Dimensional Magic]. In that case, they are already long gone." Herbent said, giving a sigh of relief. Klimt understood the sentiment. If whatever group was in there had been capable of bringing down a dragon, then he would rather not have to deal with them. Even all of these spirits he summoned working together would have difficulty with a small dragon.

Though, the ideal of explaining all this to the local Lord appealed to him even less.

The old elf gave a sigh of defeat before one of his spirits whispered something to him in that wordless language of their. [Child. Leaving.]

Klimt spun around just in time to see a shadow disappearing into the room behind them. "Wait!" Klimt shouted out, tempted to pursue, but the individual had a head start and seemed to have skills to increase their speed. He already knew he would never catch them.

Fran and Archer slipped out of the room and later passed the guards at the cave entrance before hiding back in the woods.

Best to not get involved.

* * *

**I'm using Mountain Magic as the upgrade for Earth Magic, since they can't keep it straight in the translation. It seems about right, since Water turns to Ocean.**

**For however tried to tell me the 'True' name of Achilles' Shield, I would just like to point out to you that what you sent was just 'Achilles' Shield' but in a different language. I feel that ignoring that bit of canon to just let people read the name is acceptable. **

**The story of Troy never mentioned a name for the shield, but it is the only shield that was given a physical description in the tales.**

**P.S. Achilles was actually a woman. No seriously, when Odysseus first found Achilles' 'he' was 'pretending' to be a princess in the court of some king. They only knew that he was a guy because he was really good with a spear. (Granted, this is only one version of the tales. There are a lot of different versions.)**

* * *

**For reference, here are the stats of another level 33, the same level as Fran. (He's C-rank, so he isn't supposed to be a weakling noob)**

Name: Cruz Liuzel

Age：28

Race：Human

Job：Flash Swordsman

Level：33

HP: 256 MP: 175 STR: 113 END: 119 AGI: 178 INT: 80 MGC: 91 DEX: 119

**Compare to Fran's**

Name: Fran

HP: 341, MP: 253, STR: 208, END: 183, AGI: 191, INT: 152, MGC: 150, DEX: 153

**Fran's stats without Archer Equipped**

Name: Fran

HP: 241, MP: 153, STR: 158, END: 133, AGI: 141, INT: 102, MGC: 100, DEX: 103

**So she isn't actually that OP... yet. It's just that Archer gives hell of stat boosts. Though her stats will get higher once she gets her Job.**

* * *

**Fran's Job Options:**

**Warrior Magus (Canon Option) | Requirements: At least one Divine level Weapon Art Skill + one maxed out Magic Skill | Gives +1 Strength, +1 Magic per level. Unlocks the skill [Magic Convergence] (Basically just overloads a spell)**

**Magus Killer | Requirements: Magic Barrier Lv5 or higher + Mana Thief + Presence Concealment Lv5 or higher | Gives +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Magic per level and unlocks the [Magic Concealment] skill.**

**Wrought Iron Magus | Requirements: Incarnation of the Sword title + ****one Divine level Weapon Art Skill + Lava/Metal Magic Skill (Archer would need to get maxed out Earth Magic for her to get this.) | Gives ****+1 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Magic per level. Unlocks the skill [Control Weapon]**

**Others?**


	13. Chapter 13

Archer would have to admit that he was sorely tempted to suggest that they just skip the city of Aressa all together. Even after they gave things three days to blow over and let Archer's [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] recharge, it just seemed like a better idea to go anywhere else.

They weren't really hurting for resources. Archer could use his Magic to build a home wherever they wanted, they could create water out of thin air, and the dragon had so much meat on it that he doubted he would need to hunt for food for a good long time. Especially since his ever covenant [Dimensional Storage] seemed to have a time altering effect, keeping all the food inside fresh. Normally, Archer would claim that it would last all year, but with the way Fran eats...

The dragon meat was tougher than Archer would have liked, but not outside of his skill to work with… not including the [Cooking] skill.

The first thing that Archer had done with the Dragon corpse was retrieve its heart and feed some of it to Fran, to see if it would have any kind of effect… it didn't. Unless you count being delicious as an effect. It appeared that Fran's kind, or maybe people in general for this world, could taste magical energy, and just like how in his old world people were conditioned to think that fat was flavor, there was a similar instinctual liking for the taste of magical energy.

So the Dragon meat wasn't going to give Fran super powers, but it was still going to be put to use anyways. It wasn't like they could sell it anyways. Not if they wanted to avoid gathering too much attention. A twelve year old child capable of killing a few monsters was one thing, but if Fran came in with either the Dragon or Demon corpses, people would take notice, and not the good kind of notice.

But there were just too many things that one could only get inside of a city, which drew the pair out of hiding. They wanted books on Skill and maps of the region, to help plan their next moves effectively. They could also do with the ability to sell their crap. It would be nice to have the chance to buy Magic Stones. Archer didn't need high rank magic stones, as his goals were more centered around ranking up common things, like [Water Magic] and [Earth Magic], rather than learning rare skills.

Then there was the matter of analysis weapon and armor in order to steal… learn different enchantment styles that work in this world, so that Archer could create Fran some higher quality armor. And of course, spices. They had to buy spices.

It was with these goals in mind that they set off to get into the city, sneaking past the toll guards to get in. Once in, their first stop was the marketing district to sell some things for money.

This turned out to be easier than Archer thought, as after their first encounter was a very unpleasant and snobby asshole who tried to rip them off, Fran had the perfect chance to test out [Skill Taker].

([Commerce] Lv6: A skill relating to the buying and selling of items. Rarity 1)

Archer didn't mind, since at its current level, they could each use [Skill Taker] once every 3 days. If they needed it off cooldown for an emergency, he could always just level it up. This was why he also chose to steal the man's [Fashion Sense] as well. Probably a worthless skill, but hey, you never know.

He would have stolen the man's [Manners] instead, but he didn't have any.

It was a shame that the skills they stole were not shared between them, so skills Archer stole were inaccessible to Fran and vise versa. But it was an easy way for them to get common skills that weren't commonly held by Demonic Beasts.

After that encounter, it was very easy for Fran to get other shop keepers to buy some of their lower rank pelts and the weapons and armor from the goblins they had killed. Though it seemed that they lacked the money to buy anything about the D-rank. They were told to visit one of the Guilds if they wanted to sell such things, either the Adventurer's Guild, the Merchant's Guild or the Blacksmith's Guild.

None of the shopkeepers found it at all odd, doing such things with a twelve year old girl, as they believed her to simply be an apprentice of a powerful individual and just running his errands. Most were too busy being envious of her 'high quality item bag' to care about her age. Archer wondered what they would think if they knew the truth, and that it was just a normal leather pouch they were using to hide their [Dimensional Storage].

After flogging most of their G-E rank pelts and selling all the goblin's weapons, they were sitting on around 250,000 Gorudo's, the equivalent of $18,750 USD. Not a bad hull. Fran did a good job arguing up the price for many of them.

(So much.) Fran thought happily as they left the final vendor.

[I'm glad you're having fun.] Archer chuckled. The girl was treating it all like a game and was really enjoying herself, though since her face remained stoic, the merchants she was competing against were none the wiser. They didn't seem to notice the small twitching of her ears or the sparkle in her eyes. [The first thing we should do now is look to get you some proper armor.]

Fran stopped mid step, causing several people to almost bump into her in the crowded street. (But, Archer's superduper armor?)

[That is going to take some time to make. In the meantime, you need something functional. Shopping around will also give us a chance to learn more about enchanting and let you pick out a design you like.] Since they wouldn't be able to sell the Demon or Dragon items without drawing attention, Archer decided he would just use them to make Fran's equipment from now on. With how much there was, he could probably make her a set of the highest quality armor for every day of the week and still have stuff left over.

(...Nn.) Fran replied with a nod. She didn't like it, but she was willing to accept it for now, and so they moved around the merchants' district, looking for blacksmithing stores.

It probably would have gone faster, if Archer hadn't been so snobby about the topic of equipment. He dismissed entire stores after a mere glance through the window as being worthless, saying that their materials was too poor quality, or their enchantments too weak. Some stores didn't even have real weapons in the windows, just decorative pieces, and Archer would glare and contemplate setting the entire place on fire.

But they eventually found a place where the quality was what Archer would call 'acceptable' for his Master's temporary equipment.

Surprisingly it wasn't a very well kept shop. The building looked a little rundown and the displays in the windows weren't so much displays as just mounds of equipment that seemed to be stacked there to keep out prying eyes, rather than to display the person's wares. But even this barricade was made of some good quality items. Archer read the items with a glance and found them to be made by a dwarf by the name of Gallus, someone with [Magic Blacksmith] level 7.

[Looks like we've got a hit.] Archer said as he copied everything he could see into his Unlimited Blade Works. [Let's see what they have inside.]

"Nn." Fran said, heading toward the door. But before she could enter, the door burst open and three large individuals, dressed in dented full plate armor, were thrown out into the streets, landing in a pile.

Then, out of the shop came a man no taller than Fran herself, dressed in the heavy leather protective equipment of a smith and with a pipe sticking out the corner of his mouth. "Next time I tell you to get the hell out of my store, do it!" The dwarf growled at the group.

* * *

Name: Gallus

Age: 82

Race: Dwarf

Job: Magic Blacksmith

Status: Normal

Level: 33/99

HP: 260, MP: 273, STR: 152, END: 100, AGI: 56, INT: 120, MGC: 148, DEX: 95

Skills: Dismantling: Lv2, Fire Resistance: Lv7, Blacksmithing: LvMax, Magic Blacksmithing: Lv7 Smithing Magic: Lv9, Appraisal: Lv7, Mining: Lv3, Sewing: Lv5, Hammer Techniques: Lv2, Hammer Arts: Lv7, Poison Resistance: Lv2, Leatherworking: Lv4, Fire Magic: Lv9, Dedication: Lv6, Discernment: Lv9, Vigor Manipulation

Unique Skills: Blessing of the God of Fire

Extra Skills: God's Eye

Titles: Wandering Master Smith, Honorary Blacksmith of the Kuranzeru Kingdom, Lord of Blacksmithing

Equipment: Magic Steel Blacksmithing Hammer, Leather Clothes of the Fire Lizard, Sandals of the Phoenix Tree, Stamina Recovery Bracelet

* * *

The man was the same level as Fran was, and wasn't weak. If it weren't for the +50 in all stats given by Archer's [Wielder Stats Up (Intermediate)] skill, they would be about equal when it came to total stats. And he didn't skip out on skills as well, with high level [Fire Magic] and [Hammer Arts].

He was pretty strong… for someone's grandpa.

"How… how dare you treat us like this!? We are part of the City Knights!" One of the men who was thrown out shouted in indignation. Despite his claim of being a knight, and him being level 25, his stats were really low, barely more than a third of the old man's.

Gallus took his pipe from his mouth and gave off of puff of smoke. "I don't give a shit who you think you are. I only sell my equipment to real fighters. Not toy soldiers like you. Now scram, before I decide to get really violent." He said, lifting up his hammer, which started to glow with magical energy.

The 'knights' took the hint and started to scramble to get away.

As they left, all eyes were on the dwarf. Hungry and jealous eyes from the other merchants. "*Sigh* I guess I've been here too long. Better think about moving again." The old dwarf said, running his hand through his beard. He was turning to go back inside when he spotted Fran standing their, watching him with her blank stare.

The Dwarf froze, staring back at her with wide eyes. If his pipe had still been in his mouth, it would have fallen to the ground as his jaw dropped open. Then he started to laugh and held open the door. "Come on in little lady! Feel free to take a look around!"

"Nn." Fran said, walking inside before the man closed the door behind them. As she and Archer looked around, Fran trying to find something that she like the look of and Archer copying everything in sight, Fran made a little small talk. "Throw out weakling city knights: Ok?"

"It's fine. They can boast all they want about their station, the King has his eye on me. If they actually tried to retaliate against me, it would probably be treated like an act of treason." The man said with a shrug. "I only give equipment to people who can make good use of it. That's my rule."

[Hmm, so being a Blacksmith of his level made him something of a big shot then.] Archer thought. His equipment was impressive… but not THAT impressive. The old dwarf was no Masamune. Perhaps Archer's time around other Servants had warped his judgment a bit, but he felt like a lot of the gear in there was just unimaginative.

"So, what can I help you with?" Gallus asked cheerfully.

"Need armor. Old set: damaged." Fran said curtly.

"Damaged huh? Is that broken or simply damaged? If you have it with you, I could take a look at it. See if it isn't beyond my [Smithing Magic] to repair." Gallus offered. Fran nodded and brought out the Wyvern armor. "Yikes. You won't kidding about it being damaged."

The dwarf said as he took the light armor and started to inspect it.

"Yeah, this is definitely damaged beyond repair." He said before hmming to himself. "It isn't a pretty thing, but it sure is interesting. I don't see any of the normal techniques on display and there isn't any trace of magic, but it is a solid piece of work with no neglected spots. The way it connects the segments in order to protect against piercing damage while maintaining flexibility… I didn't consider a style like this. It's like a mixture between light and heavy armored styles. Something like a jack of plate type set up, only with long heavy leather and more tightly packed together. It might have been as good as some sets made from C-rank materials, despite being made from a D-rank Lesser Wyvern, if they just used some elemental coatings. Where'd you get it?"

"Teacher made it to me." Fran said proudly.

"You're teacher, is it? Any chance I can meet this guy? I'd like to ask him about his methods. Even if I am a blacksmith, I work in leathers as well." Gallus asked Fran as he put down the leather.

Fran's excitement faded a bit at the man's request. "Teacher doesn't meet with others… Elusive."

"Oh… is that so." Gallus said, though he didn't sound all that disappointed. He was even smiling as he looked at Fran… or rather, right past her, to the sword on her back. "Tell me, your teacher, he wouldn't happen to be that Intelligent Weapon you've got on your back, would he?"

[He knows.] Archer mumbled in annoyance. It appeared the 5 Self-evolution Points he spent getting [Appraisal Blocker] in preparation for entering the town were a total waste. The first person they came across who had [Appraisal] had a supporting Extra Skill to go with it; [God's Eye].

"...Intelligent Weapon?" Fran said, tilting her head in an attempt to feign ignorance. Not that it worked. Despite her almost always expressionless face, Fran was a terrible liar. Besides, the man already knew what was up.

"I can't see everything, but my God's Eye lets me see past enough of our Anti Appraisal skill to know that your sword is no ordinary magic weapon. No ordinary weapon has an A+ magic conductivity." Gallus said with a cheeky smile.

[...So, you've found me out then.] Archer whispered into the man's mind.

"Ooh? You really can talk? You really are intelligent! Incredible, incredible...!" The man shouted, far too enthuseastically for Archer's liking.

[Yes, I am intelligent, and I choose my wielder. So if you have dreams of obtaining me, forget them.] Archer said, attempting to intimidate the man. Though Gallus was too excited to even notice.

"Intelligent Weapons are real! I heard the stories but I never thought that they were actually real!" Gallus said as he bounded up and down like a kid in a candy store. Though he stopped after seeing how Fran's ears were flattening and how she was clutching Archer to her chest. "Oops, sorry. I guess I got too excited. I just never seen a real Intelligent weapon before."

He looked closer at Archer, his eyes shining.

"I can't even tell what kind of alloy you are made of, but it doesn't appear to be inferior to the legendary Orichalcum. You really are at the pinnacle of Magic Swords. I dare say, depending on what those skills you have hidden are, you might even reach the boundaries of a Godblade."

[...You are a strange man.]

"Godblade?" Fran asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, have you never heard of the Godblades?" Gallus asked Fran who just shook her head. "Well, Godblade is a name given to the weapons and tools forged by one of the Divine Blacksmiths which exceed the bounds of worldly logic. They are weapons that stand head and shoulders above all others and could be used to bring entire nations to their knees. They are the most powerful item"

"Wow." Fran said, impressed by the man's passion. Archer wasn't so much. If the man was saying that Archer's capabilities as a blade were approaching that of these 'Godblades' then it was likely that the Godblades were Noble Phantasms.

Yes, Noble Phantasms were awe inspiring to see for your first few hundred, but Archer had seen so many of them that they lost a bit of their awe value to him.

"To a Blacksmith like me, the Godblades are a miracle existence, and the Divine Blacksmiths who made them are individuals to be admired." Gallus said, looking up at the sky with half clouded eyes "Every Blacksmith dreams of becoming a Divine Blacksmith, but there has only ever been five of them in all of history. Five Blacksmiths, and twenty-six Godblades."

[...So, could we talk business?]

"Huh? Oh, right. What do you need?"

* * *

Gallus had sold them a set of armor for really cheap. Party because he like them, and partly because the individual who had commissioned the creation of the armor, a halfling woman, had died in battle, and he couldn't find anyone else the armor would even fit. It seemed that less than 5% of fighters were female, and even fewer of them were halflings or children.

It still cost them 100,000 Gorudo's, but that was the price of quality, and Archer didn't regret it. They could farm up that much money in a day or two out in the wilds anyways, if they tried.

The Blacksmith had been surprised when they had asked for Magic Stones, and more surprised still when they asked for the scrap stones over the higher quality ones.

He ended up selling them a small barrel containing about 200 G-rank stones for 10,000. He said that they were worthless for enchanting and that he only had them to act as cheap disposable fuel for his blacksmithing equipment. He would buy the things in mass from the Blacksmith's Guild, and two barrels were about the same price as a single D-rank Magic Stone, depending on what type of Demonic Beast it was and how the market was doing.

Still, the stones served Archer's purpose, as a majority of the scrapped stones were Rock Worm stones.

According to the [Demonic Beast Knowledge] skill, Rock Worms were an extremely common G-rank Demonic Beast that was considered even weaker than a goblin. They were nothing more than pests who ruined farmers' crops. There corpses were too brittle after they dried to be used in any kind of crafting, their meat smelled and tasted like shit, and their stones were considered to be useless. G-rank Adventurers would normally be hired in order to kill them in mass, and they would just burn the bodies and sell the magic stones that remained.

However, they had exactly what Archer was looking for. After absorbing the Demon's Magic Stone, his [Earth Magic] skill had reached level 7, and he had hoped that constantly absorbing the Rock Worm's level 2 [Earth Magic] would put him over the edge. And he was not left disappointed.

([Earth Magic] has reached the max level. [Mountain Magic] Lv1, [Sandstorm Magic] Lv1, and [Lava Magic] Lv1 have been unlocked. Fran has gained the Earth Mage title.)

"So, you're telling me that you can become more powerful by absorbing Magic Stones?" Gallus asked as he and Archer waited for Fran to change into her new armor.

[That's correct.] Archer replied as he rested himself inside of the barrel, slowly absorbing the stones. It was only about 100 points for the entire bucket sized barrel, since many of the stones were worth even less than a goblin's, but Archer wouldn't complain. It was still more cost effective than buying higher rank stones.

He had grown to like the obsessive... I mean passionate blacksmith a little. Enough to make idle and vague talk about his abilities. Not enough for the man to become dangerous, but enough to make him satisfied.

Besides, the feel of slowly absorbing the stones was relaxing, and he was in the mood to talk.

"Amazing." Gallus said. "You… you wouldn't by any chance have been created by a Divine Blacksmith, would you? I only ask because you seem to powerful to be an ordinary sword. Not on the level of a Godblade, but still powerful."

[I have no idea who created this body. My own soul prevents me from looking into this sword's history. It might have been a Divine Blacksmith, it might not have. I don't really care either way.] Archer admitted.

"Don't care!?" The dwarf shouted incredulously. "What do you mean you don't care!? You are an Intelligent Weapon! A thing of myth! Aren't you even the least bit curious about your origins, your purpose!?"

[...Not really. Are you curious about the things your parents did to make you?] Archer said in a teasing tone, causing the old man to splutter.

"Oh god… I'm going to need a stronger drink tonight to get that thought out of my head." The man groaned with a small shudder. "Are you seriously not curious at all?"

[If I was, then I would have to search all over the world for this 'legendary blacksmith', or the God that is responsible for my being here, and ask them why. And I think I can guess what the answer would be.] Archer said, shifting himself around so that he could better absorb the stones. ['Because I was bored.' Artists and Gods are like that. They only do things because they are bored, horny, or want to exact some kind of vague vengeance on one and other.]

"You really don't understand an artists heart at all." Gallus mumbled, his shoulders falling. "Fine, you don't care about finding your maker. Then what do you want? Do you have any kind of dream of your own?"

[What… do I want?] Archer said, his voice trailing off. He didn't respond for so long, that Gallus wondered if he had somehow fallen asleep. [I don't know. It's been so long since I have had any control over my own life… I'm not sure what I want. I've simply been enjoying being Fran's weapon and watching her grow. I didn't really think about making goals for myself.] Archer paused, thinking for a while longer. [I am a Servant. Merely a weapon for my Master, to help fulfill their heart's desire. That is simply how it has been.]

"Ah… well… as long as you're happy. I didn't mean to be imposing my own values on you." Gallus said nervously. "I suppose I'm just a little crazy about Godblades, ever since I had the chance to see one."

[Really, you've seen a Godblade?] Archer said, a little curious. [What were its stats like?]

"Well, I couldn't see everything, not even with my [God's Eye] but it was called the Flame Sword, Ignis. It had an attack of 1800 and a Magical Power Conductivity of SS. It had the skills Flame Magic Bestowal and God Flame Bestowal, as well as several others I couldn't identify." Gallus explained.

[Hmm. Not bad.] Was Archer's only response. With its high Magical Power Conductivity, it seemed to be around an E or D-rank Noble Phantasm. Though depending on the actual effects of its skills, it could be much stronger. [Perhaps I'll get the chance to see one someday.]

"Archer, I'm done." Fran said as she came out from the changing room, showing off her new clothes for Archer.

[They look good on you.] Archer said, as an almost programmed response.

After all, Fran was a girl, and could possibly exact vengeance if not complimented on her dress. This was something that every man should know.

And Fran did look nice in the armor, as it appeared that Gallus had put a lot more thought into how it turned out looking that Archer had. She almost looked like a ballerina in that dress, except for the combat boots and with a metal breastplate attached at the front. In the end, Archer was simply more interested in the defensive properties of the equipment, and in that regard, the clothes passed his inspection.

They would do… for the time being. They still weren't up to Archer's standards. Barely an upgrade to the Wyvern Leathers he had given her before.

Fran and Archer thanked the old man before leaving the shop and heading on their way.

[Now we just need to buy some books, maps and spices, and we will be done.] Archer said, going over the mental shopping list. There weren't that many things that they would need, and after they gathered them, they could move on to another town, away from the site of the dungeon incident, where there sudden appearance would be less likely noticed.

That had been Archer's plan. But plans tend to change, as Fran stopped walk.

Archer followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at the Adventurer's Guild, her body language portraying an almost longing to go.

[...You want to join the Adventurer's Guild?] Archer asked her.

"...Nn." Fran responded. (Mother and father were Adventurers.)

[…] It was a bad idea. There was a chance that someone in the Adventuring group from before had gotten a look at Fran in the dungeon. And it was entire possible that they would want to know about what had happened. Going in there would only draw attention to the girl, and she was not yet strong enough that she could withstand that kind of attention. Even coming into the town at all was risky… But Archer could feel how much Fran really wanted to go.

Did it really matter where they want? A girl like Fran, strong as she was and with the Chaos Goddess's favor, couldn't help but to draw attention. Even their Appraisal Block didn't so much protect them from this as it did show that they had something to hide.

What difference did it make whether they were here, or somewhere else?

[If you want, then go ahead.] Archer said, hoping he wasn't making a bad choice.

"Nn!"

* * *

Name: Remodeled Breastplate of the Flame Bull | DEF: 88 | Durability: 330/330 | Effect: Fire Resistance ↑ Low

Name: Remodeled Gauntlet of the Paralysis Clawed Cat | DEF: 39 | Durability: 160/160 | Effect: Impact Resistance ↑ Low, Paralysis Resistance ↑ Low

Name: Boots of the Poison Wyrm | DEF: 52 | Durability: 200/200 | Effect: Poison Resistance ↑ Low

Name: Mithril Earring of the Cat Tribe | DEF: 10 | Durability: 100/100 | Effect: Magic Resistance ↑ Low

* * *

**Archer has not yet absorbed the Moonlight Dragon's magic stone. I'm saving it for equipment, since absorbing it wouldn't get him the Extra or Innate skills anyways. The only things he would get out of it are [Automatic HP Recovery](unless since they got so much Healing Magic), [Ice Magic] (Which they will get once they max out Water Magic), and [Moonlight Magic](...admittedly good.)**

**And 3000 Magic Stone Points. But that could be gotten in other ways, like simply buying them.**

* * *

**Unique Skill is different that Extra skill.**

**Unique is a skill gifted by a god.**

**Extra is a skill inherent to the individuals soul. (like the Unlimited Blade Works)**

**Innate skills are things like the ability to fly because you physically have wings.**


	14. Chapter 14

When Archer imagined a Guild Hall building, he imagined something like a post office. A place with only a simple check-in area and some storage units connected to it. However, the Adventurer's Guild was a much larger place, about the same size as the virtual school inside of the Moon Cell, with a very spacious entry area with several tables and a fully manned bar out to the side, away from the front desks.

Around two dozen individuals filled the seats, seemingly talking about the day to day life of the Adventurer. Though some of them quieted down and pointed as Fran walked boldly up to the front desk.

Little Fran was already drawing a lot of attention.

"Can I help you?" The woman behind the desk asked, seeming more than a little surprised to see a young girl coming into the Guild Hall all by herself.

"Register." Fran replied simply. Archer chuckled to himself a little, since Fran wasn't really being very clear.

"Ah, yes. Are you alone?"

"Alone." Fran confirmed.

"Erm… This is the Adventurer's Guild, so…"

"I know."

Archer wasn't really surprised by the woman's confusion. While Fran was dressed in armor and carrying a sword, she was still a twelve year old girl. It wouldn't have been unusual if she was merely an apprentice or squire of some kind, but she reported to being alone. It wouldn't have been that unreasonable for the woman to simply refuse Fran straight out.

But god bless bureaucracy, because the rules didn't let them discriminate against people for their age, race, gender or appearance. Even if she didn't like it, she couldn't turn Fran away. Not that the woman didn't try to persuade the child to leave.

"Anyone can register, but there'll be a test."

"Nn."

"It'll be a test of fighting forms, but is that alright?"

"Good."

"Are you really sure? You could get injured…"

"Unconcerned."

"Well… If anything happens, the Guild takes no responsibility."

"Alright."

"So, you still wish to do it…? I understand. Just a moment, please."

The woman gave a sigh before leaving the desk to go and get whomever it was that was supposed to test Fran.

Archer almost felt sorry for them. At the moment, Fran was the strongest individual in the room, and not by a small margin. Though considering the indignant noises they were making about the nerve of Fran for taking being an Adventurer so lightly, they seemed to have their own opinions. It only proved to Archer how blind they were.

Fran wasn't good at masking her body language, and every part of her just screamed 'prepared' to the old Servant. It was in the way she walked, the way she held her head, the positioning of her hands. Any Servant who saw her would have instantly known that she was a fighter, yet these Adventurers were blind to that fact.

Eventually, the receptionist came back and then led them to a spacious area in the back of the Guild building. Presumably a training hall.

That was where Fran met her examiner.

"Are you the registration applicant?" As a large man wearing rough black armor with sharp shoulder pauldrons. He was over two meters tall, with broad shoulders, a square jaw and horns growing out of his head.

He was an opposing figure… not that Fran cared. "Nn." Was the only response she gave him. She wasn't even sure if the man would have scared her before she met Archer and fought the Demon, and after the dream cycle had shown her the Berserker, Heracles, and the Jabberwock, she wasn't sure if anything would ever be able to intimidate her again. Not that the man wasn't trying.

He had activated several intimidation type skills, but they had no effect on her at all. She had the feeling she might have seen him somewhere before… but she couldn't really remember. She had a hard time remembering unimportant details.

"I'm your testing examiner, Donna Dorondo!" The man said loudly as he lifted his massive axe. "The contents of the examination are easy. You have to fight me. If you're defeated too easily, you don't pass!"

"Understood." Fran said, reaching up and grabbing onto Archer's hilt. His scabbard dissolved into specks of blue light, saving her the trouble of drawing him from her back. This seemed to give the large man a slight pause, but he still continued.

"Just so you're aware, I'm not good at holding back. When I fight, I do it seriously. If you don't want to fight, now's the time to leave!" Donna Dorondo shouted, pushing his skills a little harder.

"Want to fight." Fran declared simply.

* * *

Name: Donna Dorondo

Age: 46

Race: Kijin

Job: Great Warrior

Status: Normal

Level: 38/99

HP: 346, MP: 173, STR: 178, END: 163, AGI: 101, INT: 90, MGC: 81, DEX: 116

Skills: Coercion: Lv4, Transportation: Lv3, HP Recovery Rate ↑: Lv5, Danger Perception: Lv4, Instruction: Lv4, Presence Perception: Lv3, Grudge: Lv4, Flash Step: Lv3, Earth Magic: Lv2, Throwing: Lv5, Poison Resistance: Lv7, Lumbering: Lv4, Axe Techniques: Lv7, Axe Arts: Lv8, Roar: Lv3, Revival, Vigor Manipulation, Magic Manipulation, Steel Body, Automatic HP Recovery, STR ↑ Low

Titles: Guild Instructor

Equipment:Greataxe of Heavy Wrought Steel, Sovereign Black Iron Turtle Armor, Cloak of the Violent Fang Tiger, Stone Dragon Shoes, Sacrificial Bracelet

* * *

[He's a higher level than Gallus, and slightly stronger, but he isn't proficient in any sort of Magecraft. His skills make him seem more like the defensive type, capable of taking a beating. Though he does have [Flash Step] at level 3, so be prepared for a burst of movement.] Archer relayed to Fran. [Remember, this is just a spar. So don't go too far.]

(Nn!)

"Let's begin!" Donna Dorondo shouted before triggering his [Flash Step] and rushing forward.

The entire thing was over then and there. Fran parried the man's axe swing with easy, cut the tendance on his arms, before spinning around with her own burst of speed, taking the man's legs out from under him… literally. She cut them clean off.

Donna Dorondo fell to the ground, completely stunned, though somehow not screaming in pain as Fran stepped on him and placed her blade to his throat. "Over committed. Momentum threw balance off." Fran said before getting off of him. "[Greater Heal]" Fran pumped in enough Mana into the spell to allow it to reattach the man's limbs. "Again."

"Wh...what?" Donna Dorondo said, not sure what was going on.

"Spar not over. Get up quickly. True enemy not allow rest." Fran said, holding up Archer again. "Get up, or start while on ground."

...Perhaps Archer had been a bad influence.

* * *

Klimt hadn't been having the best of days.

It was decided early on between Klimt and the City Knights' Commander that the existence of the new Dungeon should be kept quiet while the King decided what was to be done with it and whose jurisdiction it would fall under. However, the wormy little viscount's brat, the second in command of the City Knights, was trying to use the strangeness of the events to undermine the Adventurer's Guild.

His claim was that Klimt and the rest of the Adventuring party who dived into the Dungeon had cleared it themselves, and that they were secretly hiding the Demon Count and Moonlight Dragon corpses, reported as having been summoned by the Dungeon Core, for themselves.

This was, of course, idiotic. While they had the power available to bring down the Demon Count, a Moonlight Dragon was an A-rank threat. Klimt would admit that even if he had summoned a Supreme Spirit to combat it, he probably wouldn't have won. Not without a few B-rank or higher frontline fighters to help buy him time.

And even if they had managed such a feat, why would they hide it? The laws governing the hunting of Demonic Beasts clearly state that the materials would have been theirs by right, if they had managed to defeat it without outside help. They would have even been handsomely rewarded on top of that for helping to defend the kingdom against such a threat.

The claims against them were stupid, but as stupid as they were, stupid people were bound to believe them, especially because of that fat pig's [Principle of an Element (Falsehood)] skill. All he had to do was claim that his skill said that they were lying, and his skills would make his own lie more believable.

The King was not an idiot, but if enough nobles start to mown, then he might be forced into action, even if it is unjust.

Then, after having the displeasure of having that fat pig spitting lies into his face all morning, he came back to his office only to have this dropped on him.

"Ahahaha! Yeah, she beat me." Donna Dorondo laughed, his terrifying instructor persona disappearing to be replaced by his normal relaxed attitude. his signature black armor was covered in cuts and blood had dried to his face.

"Donna, this isn't a laughing matter." Klimt said, causing the man to flinch. "You were made the examiner specifically so that this kind of thing wouldn't happen."

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." The man said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Klimt sighed. He couldn't really blame the Kijin. Losing to a talented rookie once because your careless was understandable. But he didn't just lose once. The girl beat him ten consecutive times.

...A child who came out of nowhere beat their combat instructor ten times in a row!

Klimt looked over at the girl in question as she sat opposite of the two, not seeming to be paying any attention as her eyes were following the tiny spirits that Klimt kept in his room to warn him of malicious intent. The girl seemed curious, as though she had never seen spirits so close before.

Though the fact that she could see the spirits at all was telling. In there noncorporeal form, only individuals with [Spirit Magic] or an extremely high [Magic Detection] skill should be capable of seeing spirits. Yet this tiny girl could.

Not only could she see spirits, according to what Klimt had been told, she had displayed several different skills and magics in her sparring matches against Donna Dorondo, including [Divine Sword Techniques], [Earth Magic]. [Wind Magic], high level [Fire Magic], [Healing Magic] and [Lightning Magic] of all things. Then, to top it all off, in her final round of the fights, she had simply used [Support Magic] to strengthen herself and then completely physically overwhelmed the man with brute strength, as if she was the one fighting a child, before cleaning up all the blood with [Purification Magic] and repairing the damage to the room with high level [Earth Magic].

In terms of combat strength, she must have been at least the equal to a B-rank Adventurer. There was no other way she could beat Donna so consistently. How could such an individual exist?

The child's hands lepped up as she tried to catch one of the spirits, as if it was a firefly, only for it to pass harmlessly between her fingers.

Such a display might have made Klimt laugh, if the girl hadn't froaned, before starting to channel mana into her hands, causing them to glow. "Don't! You'll hurt them!" Klimt shouted quickly as the girl prepared herself to try to catch the spirit again.

She looked confused, but lowered her hands and let the mana die away. "...Sorry."

[Combat Qigong], a type of hand-to-hand fighting that focuses on the use of magical energy to reinforce the body, hardening the skin and strengthening the muscles. It was the kind of thing used by monks who specialized in hand-to-hand combat. Where did this child learn it?

Sighing again, Klimt started the interview. "First, let me hear your name."

"Fran." The girl replied in an odd monotone voice.

"And your age?"

"12."

Donna howled at the girl's words. "You mean you really are as old as you look?" The man said, his pride bleeding out onto the floor. He was probably trying to convince himself that she was actually just a member of a long living race.

"Donna..." Klimt warned the man before returning his eyes to the child. "However… I understand how you feel. Only 12 years old, and yet capable of using [Divine Sword Techniques], [Lightning Magic] and tenth level [Fire Magic], one after another... Is that some kind of a joke?" Klimt once again attempted to use his [Appraisal] skill, only to come back with nothing. "On top of that, you have an [Appraisal] blocking skill."

If [Appraisal] was a one in a hundred skill, [Appraisal Block] was one in ten thousand. Just having it was suspicious in and of itself… and yet, the spirits do not sense any ill intent from her. They are simply as curious about her as she is about them.

"So, according to you, you're 12. Where do you come from?" Klimt asked her.

"...Don't know." Fran said after a short pause, shrugging her shoulders.

"You… don't know. Why is that?" Klimt asked.

"Parents Adventurers. Didn't stay in one place. Died when I was young." Fran replied.

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that." Klimt said, trying to figure out what it all meant. If she was going to lie, she should have just claimed to be from a large city, one where it would be hard to confirm. So it was likely she was telling the truth, as unbelievable as the truth was. Though he supposed she was a child. Perhaps she just wasn't good at telling lies and so her story attracts suspicion. "Who took care of you after your parents died."

"..." The girl didn't respond.

"Klimt…" Donna mumbled uneasily. They both dealt with enough orphans to knew what silence meant. 'No one' implied that they grew up on the streets. Silence implied something worse.

"I'm sorry for asking." Klimt said, before moving on to his next question. "Tell me, who is it that trained you."

"Archer trained me." The girl replied, almost immediately. "Archer: Greatest."

"Archer?" Klimt said. He had never heard of an individual going by that handle, and in order to train a young girl to this level, he had to be at least an A-rank individual, if not S-rank. "Is there any way that I can meet this 'Archer'?"

"...No." The girl said.

"...Is there a reason for that?"

"Secret."

"...Haha… How troublesome." Klimt said with a sigh. If this 'Archer' person really existed, then it wasn't likely he let his pupil stray too far away. The girl could be a dangerous element, a spy, or a sleeper agent, even though the spirit could not sense any ill will from her. But if they act against her, then this 'Archer' might take offense. "...Was this 'Archer' person the one who conquered the nearby dungeon?"

"...Yes." The girl paused, as if debating what to say before giving her response.

"I see… did he solo that last monster?" Klimt asked.

"Archer soloed dragon." The girl said, her ears folding a little as if depressed by something.

She knew that it was a dragon. Oh boy. Her teacher was an individual capable of soloing a Moonlight Dragon. Even if fought in the confines of a cave, where its maneuverability would be limited, soloing a dragon is no small feat. The man must be a high A-rank. No, they had heard how short the fight had been. He must be the equivalent of an S-rank fighter.

Doing anything that might upset such a person was a VERY bad idea. Especially while Amanda was not in town.

The shadow that Klimt saw running away must have been this girl, tagging along behind her teacher. Perhaps he was using the goblins to train her. The man himself must have been there too, his concealment too high for Klimt to see him.

"Pass? Fail?" Fran asked as the Guild Master sweated bullets.

Klimt coughed into his hand as he recollected himself. "I won't turn away someone strong enough to take on Donna."

"Then Guild Card?"

"I'll prepare it now, so please fill in the necessary information on this form. If you cannot write, then perhaps I could do it on your behalf?"

"No need." Fran said as she took the clipboard from Klimt and started filling it out. Or all the parts that she could.

"Any skilled Adventurers are welcome! Right, Guild Master?" Donna said cheerfully welcoming the girl, though Klimt though he saw sweat on the large man's neck as well.

Klimt wasn't sure if it was the thought of Archer or of future sparring matches with the girl was worried the Kijin.

As Fran filled out her documents, they found out that she didn't have a Job yet, or even know what one was, which was shocking.

Jobs were like a seperate set of levels. Each person who have one job based on thier Skills, Titles, and past actions and that job gave benefits to them as the job itself grew levels. Jobs could be changed, but the experience and bonuses gained didn't carry over. If the girl didn't have a job, that means she was working with a huge disadvantage.

Donna almost cried out from the wound to his pride.

Usually, people would go to the church to obtain there jobs, but the Adventurer's Guild also had a crystal ball capable of doing the task… which would allow Klimt to get a better idea of what Skills and Titles the girl actually had, even through her [Appraisal Block].

"All you have to do is touch this orb right here, and then we will get a list of possible jobs, depending on your aptitudes." Flannel, the guilds receptionist, said, presenting the ball to the girl.

"Nn." Was Fran's only reply as she did as she was told.

"For Jobs, Fran can choose… Eh?" Flannel's words dropped off as she looked at the list, suddenly finding herself speechless. Klimt would have to admit… it was an impressive list.

While most rookies would have two or three low rank jobs to choose from, Fran had over a hundred, including several intermediate and even high ranking jobs.

There were many jobs that Klimt had been expecting some of the intermediate jobs, such as "Flash Swordsman", "Magic Swordsman", "Flame Magician" and "Lightning Magician", but there were several others that he hadn't been expecting, like "Necromancer", "Spell Thief", and "Summoner". According to her possible jobs, the girl not only had three of the basic elemental magics at their second class, but also had three different converging magic types, Lightning, Sandstorm and Lava. She also possessed [Dark Magic] and [Poison Magic], as well as her [Purification Magic] and [Healing Magic] from before.

Having aptitude in so many types of magic. This simply was not natural, regardless of one's age. Was this girl really a beastkin?

Though it was as Klimt's eyes went on to the high class jobs that he really started to choke. The girl had both "Master Combatant" and "Archmage", implying she had the [Vigor Control] and [Magic Control] skills, skills that are uncommon even among A-rank Adventurers. Others, like "Warrior Magus" were less surprising, but she also had "Sky Knight", "Weapon's Master", ''Chaos Priestess", "Jack of All Trades", and still others that Klimt had never even heard of.

Then, as Klimt's eyes reached a pair of jobs near the bottom of the list, his mind simply shut down.

"Demon Hunter" "Dragon Hunter"


	15. Chapter 15

The old elf was clever, very clever. By tempting them with the promise of power, he got them to give him a glimpse of what Fran's abilities actually were.

Well, no use crying over spilt milk.

In the end, this was only letting them guess at her current parameters, without giving them any clues about her style of fighting or her potential for growth. In a month's time, that list would probably be out of date. In fact, the sheer volume of possible jobs only made discerning the types of skills she actually used more difficult. She had the possibility to take the 'Necromancer' job, but it was highly unlikely she would ever be raising the dead. Nor would she often use a spear or axe, even though she had jobs related to them. Her true aptitudes became hidden under a mountain of garbage. It made her attention grabbing, but as far as Archer could tell, it didn't reveal anything important.

As soon as they started to question Fran, Archer told her to go ahead and tell the truth. Simply refusing to answer would have only caused them to try to find out in other ways, observing her moves more closely, and the girl was a terrible liar. The only thing that they really needed to keep hidden was the fact that Archer was the sword itself. Fran was getting attention, something that Archer didn't like, but there was still no reason for anyone to target her. No one threatening, anyways. A young girl on her own attracted a certain type of trouble, and someone walking around with a valuable looking item attracted a similar type of trouble. But the people who might attack her for that would be just individual thugs and thieves, easily dispatched. If Archer's true nature became common knowledge, entire countries might start to take interest.

However, having Archer remain as Fran's unseen teacher had its own perks. Fran was strong for her age, but naive, making her a more tempting target for people to try to manipulation. But the threat of a much stronger and more experienced individual in the shadows would make people more cautious about how they approached the girl. They might be able to take advantage of her, but what would they do when her elusive teacher took offense? Archer could see that very thought pass through Klimt's mind when he managed to deduce that Fran was involved in the goblin dungeon incident.

They were still in uncertain waters, but they would always be in such a position, until Fran became strong enough that no one in their right mind would try to take advantage of her. Such was the life of the strong, you gather more attention and the threats to you become greater, forcing you to become stronger still. It becomes a vicious cycle, and if you can't keep ahead of it, it could consume you. For that reason, they needed to get a job to help their progress. Fran was particularly excited as they listed off all of the cool sounding jobs

Flannel, the guild's receptionist, did her best to explain to Fran what the individual Jobs did and asked her what she was looking for. Fran unhelpfully told her that she wanted something to help her get stronger.

"Sky Knight" was one that caused Fran to perk up her ears, as it gave stat bonuses to STR, AGL and DEX, and had a really cool sounding name, but the level 1 [Air Jump] ability that it gave was something that they already had at level 4.

"Jack of All Trades" was interesting, as it increases one's ability to gain more and more Skills, but it only gave 1 INT a level for its stat bonuses, making it relatively unhelpful.

They were heading towards the bottom of the list, with the two main contenders for Fran's attention; "Warrior Magus", since it gave stat boosts to both STR and MGC and gave a Skill that allowed one to overload their spells for increased effectiveness, and "Chaos Priestess", which rather than having fixed stat growth a level, each time it grew a level all of its stats would have a chance to increase and granted the skill [Tempt Fate] that could attract Demonic Beasts to them, which would be invaluable for luring strong enemies into traps.

Both of them were interesting options, but they were forgotten when they came to a job that surprised the former Servant. ['Magus Killer'!?] Archer shouted in surprise when they reached the near bottom of the list.

(Nn? Something wrong?) Fran asked.

[...No. Nothing at all. I just wasn't expecting to see that term used here.] Archer said. [Where I came from, 'Magus Killer' could both be used as a term for an assassin who makes use of Magecraft, and an individual who uses skills and tactics designed to efficiently kill magic users. ...My father was considered by some to be the first true 'Magus Killer', and when I followed in his footsteps, I was called the second.]

"I want that one." Fran declared, surprising everyone.

"Are… are you sure? I can't really tell you what it does, since I never heard of it before." Flannel said, seeming a little concerned.

"Archer: Magus Killer. Best job." Fran said, nodding her head, her ears twitching happily.

"So… you know what it does?"

"No. But must be best."

[Fran, we shouldn't make this decision so lightly.] Archer cautioned her.

(Won't know unless we try it. Take job. If no good, change.) Fran reasoned.

[...Fair enough.] Archer said with a mental sigh. He wasn't sure how he felt about Fran becoming a 'Magus Killer'. He and his father didn't exactly have happy lives because of their professions. Both of them lost absolutely everything, including the will to fight back. Archer himself had been consumed by such despair that he hadn't lifted a finger to stop his own hanging. He could only hope that Fran didn't suffer the same fate.

"Oh… okay. Just put your hand on the crystal and we will confirm your selection."

(Fran has become a 'Magus Killer'. Job Skill: [Magic Concealment] has been obtained.)

(Magic Concealment: A skill that conceals the user from magical detection and [Tracking Magic]. The user will not trigger magic based traps. User's Presence Concealment Skill is improved by 2 ranks. Rarity 9)

...That was some Skill. Usually, the most difficult part about going after a magic user was the numerous detection based spells and traps that they had guarding them, making it nearly impossible to catch them unaware. And not only could it be used for infiltration, it could be used for escapes as well. If things turned nasty, they could just disappear into the shadows and start over somewhere else, with no one able to track them.

That Skill alone would almost make the Job worth it. Though they would need to see the stat bonuses that it gave to be sure.

(Good get.) Fran heartily agreed.

Once that was over, Flannel led them back to the front room to complete the paperwork and get Fran her new Guild Membership card, a small bronze colored card that denoted her as being a G-rank Adventurer. "The Guild Card can be used as an identification card. Because it's been registered via the Magic Power of the individual, it's only usable by that person alone. Be careful not to lose it."

"Nn!" Fran said as she took the card, looking down at it with starry eyes.

[Don't get too attached to it. I doubt you will be G-rank for long.] Archer chuckled.

"Nn. Aim for top."

[...How about we focus on getting stronger first, and worry about climbing the ranks later. I doubt you will have any trouble earning recognition once you are the first Black Catkin to evolve.]

"Right." Fran said, nodded her head sharply, her eyes focusing at the reminder of her true goal. As much as she liked the idea of being an adventurer, it was only an aside. She couldn't let anything get in the way of her true objective.

"Wow Donna, what happened to you!?" One of the Adventurer's sitting at bar shouted as he saw the Kijin come in, his armor still a complete wreck. "You look like something the cat dragged in."

"Haha… A fitting choice of words." The man chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "What are they feeding kids these days?"

"Nn…"

"Ah!" Donna jumped as he noticed that Fran had moved up right next to him without him noticing. "Hey… uh… you need something?" He asked as he regained his composure.

"Sparring: not finished." Fran declared.

"Wait, you want to fight more!? Haven't you done enough damage already!?" Donna half shouted, earning confused looks from the people nearby.

"Too short. 3 hours: good length."

"Three hours!" Donna said his eyes widening a little. "Oy, do you want a sparring partner or a punching bag?"

"Hand-to-hand? Could use practice."

[That isn't what he meant. When people say that you are treating them like a 'punching bag' what they mean is that you are bullying them.]

(Nn? Not bullying. Sparring.)

* * *

"Good day." Fran said as she dropped herself onto the inn's bed, arms spread out. She was dressed in her night clothes after having taken a long bath to wash off the sweat she had worked up bullying… sparring with a few members of the Adventurer's Guild who didn't take her seriously.

She ended up beating down two whole D-rank adventurer teams, first taking each of them individually, one after another, then all eight of them at once. She became frustrated with them when after only an hour, none of them wanted to get back up.

After that, she tracked down Donna again and overwhelmed him in hand-to-hand combat. This she had found fun, as Donna's [HP Recovery Rate Up] Lv5 kept him on his feet for a while, though the drain it placed on his stamina meant she had to use [Recovery Magic] on him to keep him from becoming too exhausted to continue.

Archer knew this was his fault. That he had broken her common sense with that first week of training in the woods. However… it was just too entertaining for him to want to stop her.

"Tomorrow, take jobs as Adventurers." Fran said as she stared up at the ceiling.

[Then you better rest.] Archer said, using [Telekinesis] to tuck her into bed.

"Nn. Exhaustion: enemy." She said as she made herself comfortable.

The girl was fast asleep before five minutes had passed, a bit of drool hanging out the side of her mouth and soaking into her pillow.

Archer smiled inwardly as he watched his Master sleep, but soon shook himself out of it. While her day was through, he still had much he needed to do. Once again using Fran's body as a blueprint, Archer triggered [Doppelganger Synthesis SP].

([Doppelganger Synthesis SP] parameters set: single duplicate of 40% strength, 8 hour duration. Cooldown: 8 hours)

[Doppelganger Synthesis SP] worked slightly differently than [Body Split] did, where the cooldown had always been 1 day and the clone's time limit and strength had been determined by skill level. Instead, when activating [Doppelganger Synthesis SP], Archer had to decide how long he wanted the clone to last, its strength relative to the original and how many of them he wanted, and depending on those factors, the cooldown would be different.

So he could make a single clone with 80% of Fran's power for 12 hours and the cooldown would be 1 day. Or he could have the clone's power to 40% and have the cooldown be only 12 hours. Or he could increase the number of clones from 1 to 5 and the cooldown would be multiplied to match it.

It caused the skill to be fair more versatile, with Archer being able to keep up a duplicate 24/7 if he so chose. But by doing so, he would be keeping the skill forever on cooldown, robbing him of the ability to use it in a fight if the near arose.

Right now, his sword body would be enough to keep Fran safe while she slept, and while she did, Archer could make full use of his [Independent Action].

After creating Fran's color swapped double, Archer walked it over to a mirror. As walking around like this would be too easily connected to his Master, some changes would need to be made.

[Transformation]

[Transformation] was the upgrade of the [Shape Shifter] skill that Archer had unlocked by reaching rank 10 of his Self-evolution.

A few experiments with [Shape Shifter] had proven it to be a rather limited skill, as it couldn't alter Archer's mass or basic properties. So he could shape shift into a spear, but it would be a spear with mass equal to his sword form, and with the same kind of metal used, making the weight poorly balanced. It also consumed Mana at a rather large rate.

Hoping that he might be able to use it as another trump card, Archer spent the 10 Self-Evolution Points to specialize it, turning it into [Transformation]. This fixed a few of its problems, and he could now change his mass, his coloration, and his density. The mana cost was still a little much, but could be balanced out with [Automatic MP Recovery]. Sadly, while he could change into the shape of a Noble Phantasm, he couldn't take on their special properties.

This would be his first time testing [Transformation] alongside the [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] skill. It was a good thing that Fran was asleep and not watching as the way the flesh twisted as he grew wasn't something pleasant to watch. However, after a minute of experimentation, he managed to transform the silver duplicate of Fran into something resembling his old form.

"Hm… seems to have worked just fine." Archer said as he examined himself. The body to a bit of focus to maintain, but with [Split Thought] he could manage it while still functioning normally. It would make keeping track of things going on around his sword body a little more difficult, but he had detection spells set up around the room. If an intruder came close, he would know before they reached the door.

Other than that, the only downside was a steep drop in the doppelganger's stats, going from 40% of Fran's natural stats to only 4%. Now his stats were all down in the single digit range, not even .5% of Archer's true parameters.

Oh well. He wasn't planning on fighting in this body anyways.

And so, he slipped out of the inn and started to head back into the marketing district, to Gallus's shop.

[Gallus, it's Archer. I'm at the back door. Could you let me in.] Archer sent to the old dwarf, using his telepathy. Archer heard movement from inside, involving some clattering and heavy swearing before the dwarf opened the door.

"Archer?" He looked at Archer up and down.

"Yes, it's me." Archer said, chuckling at the man's surprise. [I am an intelligent weapon. Did you think I had no tricks up my sleeves?] He said through telepathy. "Mind if I came in?"

"Wow… I mean sure!" Gallus said, holding the door and letting Archer enter inside before shutting it. "What kind of skill is this? How does it work?"

"It's just a skill that allows me to make a temporary body. It isn't anything to be impressed by." Archer said as they entered into the man's inventory. "I came by because there has been a few change of plans. Originally, we were going to grab whatever resources and maps we could before jumping town and heading somewhere else. But my Master has decided that she wanted to become an Adventurer here."

"She wasn't already an Adventurer? I mean, I didn't ask to see her ID, but she sure had the air of a talented young Adventurer around her." Gallus said, seeming a little surprised.

"...Yes, young and talented." Archer said with a smile, wondering what the dwarf would think if he knew that the girl had been using several members of the Adventurer's Guild as her own personal punching bags. "But, since we are going to be sticking around for a little, I was hoping that you would allow me access to your forge, and perhaps a letter of introduction to the Blacksmith's Guild."

He still remembered the fight with the Demon, where he was forced to merely provide support because the weapons at his disposal were too weak to cut through the Demon's defenses. How even his own blade, as superior as it was to the standard, left little more than cuts without the use of Fran's full strength and some [Skills].

At the moment, Archer had only a few Magic Weapons at his disposal, which he had gathered that day from around town, the strongest of them having an attack of 1500, when reinforced to its limit. Too weak to deal with anything that would prove to be a true threat to Archer's master. It would only be enough to leave small wounds of the Dragon, even with Archer's inhuman strength behind it.

If they were going to be dealing with more such creatures in the future, than Archer would need to be equipped to face them. He needed weapons that could at least damage threats using nothing more than the strength of his [Telekinesis]. He needed weapons that were at least as good as his own blade, which could currently produce an attack power of 3500, when pushed as far as safety would allow.

Besides, crafting magic swords could bring in good money that he could invest in the material they would need in the future.

"You know how to smith?" Gallus asked.

"You could say that." Archer said, unable to keep a cheeky smile for his lips.


	16. Chapter 16

In the back of Gallus's forge, Archer, in a Fran Doppelganger body, was using [Lava Magic] Lv3: [Shape Steel] to carefully refine the edge of his nearly finished blade, compacting the steel into a flawless edge without a single inconsistency or scratch on its surface.

Meanwhile, next to him, Archer, in a Fran Doppelganger body, was working to create a new alloy, carefully introducing impurities at the near atomic level in order to provide the best platform for holding mana.

As they were doing that, Archer, in a Fran Doppelganger body, was operating a forge, juggling pieces for an entire set of armor in and out as he hammered each piece with the speed and efficiency beyond the ability of most masters before returning it to the fire and moving on to the next.

Finally, on the other side of the room, Archer was reading a book on this world's runic systems, while Archer was using this information to translate various old enchantments that he knew into the new world's runic system.

All of this happening in a forge with a silencing spell over it, so that the people outside couldn't hear the pandemonium.

"This is… uh…" Gallus couldn't find the words to describe what he was bearing witness to. "If anyone saw this, they would think I'm running a sweatshop."

"I suppose it does smell a little musty in here." One of the Archers joked.

Archer had used [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] to create 5 copies of his Master, each with only 8% of her stats, then used 10 Self-evolution Points to upgrade [Split Thought] into [Parallel Processing] which allowed him to have as many as 5 separate trains of thought all going at once. While each separate clone's stats were low, each of them still had the [Automatic MP Recovery] ability, allowing him to perform basic magic with them without having to worry about running out, as long as he didn't use it in too rapid of succession.

After the upgrades to [Split Thought] and [Lava Magic], which he had increased to Lv4, and his old purchase of [Appraisal Block], Archer's Self-evolution Points reserves had dropped down from 99 to 70.

"Still not good enough." Archer grumbled as the latest blade was brought to a finish.

* * *

Top-notch Magic Steel Cutlass

Attack: 825 Mana: 70/70 Durability:1100/1100 Mana Channel: C+

Effect: +5 STR, +5 AGL, +15 DEX, [Imbue Fire]

* * *

It was good by the standards of what he had seen around town, but not nearly good enough. Once reinforced to its limit, it could only product an attack power of around 1400. However, the effects he managed to retain within the metal were a step in the right direction. It was as he thought, by turning the structure in on itself while introducing his impurities, he could trap more of the latent energy inside and strength the retained abilities of the monster materials. If he could reapply what he had just done to higher quality materials...

Archer tossed the blade back onto the growing pile in a crate in the center of the room. In that day alone, they/he had completed 22 magic weapons and 3 sets of magic armor. Still, all of this was only practice, getting him used to the methods of this world and giving him time to experiment before he moved on to the big stuff.

The Orichalcum bars, the Demon and Dragon materials, and of course, the Magic Stone of the Moonlight Dragon.

Archer would admit that there had been the temptation to absorb the Moonlight Dragon's magic stone. That singular stone would have easily grown him another Self-evolution rank, maybe as many as three. However, beyond that, he wouldn't have gotten much out of it. The [Moonlight Magic] would have been nice to have, but it would have come to him at level 2 and required him to spend Self-evolution Points on it to make it usable. Even once he did all that, the psychological aspects of it wouldn't have any effect on high ranking Demonic Beasts or skilled human-like fighters, such as the Wood Elf who ran the Guild, and those were the only concern that Archer and Fran really had. Most of the other skills were either not that uncommon or were Innate and Extra Skills, which Archer wouldn't have been able to absorb.

The Magic Stone Points could easily be gotten through other means, whereas an A-rank Demonic Beast's Magic Stone was rare enough and powerful enough to not be used lightly.

When performing [Magic Blacksmithing], the blacksmith would often mix in parts from various high level Demonic Beasts, which not only strengthened the physical form, but also could allow the monster's skills to manifest as effects on the item being created. The number and strength of those effects could be increased with the skill and power the blacksmith used in creating the weapon. They can also be increased by using the Magic Stone of the Demonic Beast that the materials came from.

He would only get one shot, but if he pulled it off, he could create a weapon that could rival even some Noble Phantasms, and once he created it once, he would be able to trace it. Maybe he would even be able to unseat one of the Godblades.

For a man so obsessed with the Divine Blacksmiths and their creations, Gallus did a shitty job explaining what they were. Archer almost wanted to beat the dwarf over the head with the book he found, which contained a brief description of their known history and found out what they really were. There weren't 26 Godblades because that was all that was ever made. There were 26 Godblades because the Gods themselves had created a fixed number of seats.

The Godblades were the 26 greatest man made items in existence, and were imbued with divine power from the Gods themselves in order to elevate them to a level beyond what was natural. In order for a new Godblade to come into existence, an old one old ones would have to be surpassed or destroyed.

Ignis might have only had physical characteristics comparable to a E-rank anti-unit Noble Phantasm, but it's special abilities could call down divine fire to burn down an entire fortress in an instant, power comparable to perhaps a B-rank anti-army Noble Phantasm, depending on how it was used and its usage requirements.

Another weapon, Alpha, was famed for its ability to do what Archer could only describe as turning a normal man into a Demi-Servant, increasing their stats 10 fold and maxing out all of their [Skills]. And they could maintain this state for 3 days, though no mention was made to what kind of cooldown it might have.

While not even remotely comparable to true Divine Constructs, like Excalibur, the Godblades were what you would get if you gathered 26 of the most powerful Noble Phantasms ever created by mortal hands together to make a special club. Even those that weren't weapons were rumored to have the kind of abilities that would be worthy of any Servant's Noble Phantasm.

But in the end, the Godblades were mortal made weapons, raised into power equal to that of a Noble Phantasm by the recognition of the Gods granting them divine energy. As good as the smiths who made them were, Archer wasn't your ordinary blacksmith. He had extremely detailed knowledge gathered from thousands of years worth of legendary weapons, including weapons that's creation went beyond mortal comprehension. If it was even remotely possible to make a weapon capable of unseat a Godblade, using the materials he had on hand, he figured he had a shot at it.

While Archer was half lost in thought, his several pairs of hands continuing the work that he could perform in his sleep, as Gallus walked over to the 'for sale' crate and picked up the finished cutlass. His expression was a mixture of awe and despair. "It would have taken me four days to create a weapon as strong as this one using mithril and C-rank Demonic Beast materials and magic core, and you made it in an hour using just scrap iron and an F-rank Red Wolf's teeth. You didn't even give it your full attention."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. When you can analyze and control the materials at near the molecular level, it is easy to fabricate a compact base for the enchantments." Archer said simply as he started to move on to his next project. "Though I probably should start working with mithril after this. I'll have to buy some with the money I make selling these failed products."

"The molecular...? Farbricate...? Failed products...?" Gallus repeated, sounding confused and shell-shocked. Archer grabbed a stool with his [Telekinesis] and moved it in place to catch the dwarf as his legs gave out. "My life. I spent my entire life trying to further my craft and refine my skills, trying to progress towards my goal of becoming a Divine Blacksmith. I thought I had achieved so much, but this is… what is this even?"

"Don't take it personally. I have never met another man who knows swords like I do." Archer consoled the poor man. "Perhaps when I find the time, I can teach you a little Magecraft. Your [Appraisal] and [God's Eye] are fine for giving you a summary of what you are looking at, but they don't give you enough detail for you to truly understand. My [Structural Analysis] spell lets me know everything about what I am working with."

"Everything?"

"Everything." Archer then smiled as the bit of consciousness that was monitoring his sword body told him of his Master's return. "It seems that my Master has returned." He said right before an awkward slamming could be heard at the front door.

"Gods' below, who taught that girl how to knock!?" Gallus shouted, jumping up off his stool because of the racket. He rushed to the door in order to let the girl in, half frightened that she would break the door off of its hinges.

"Cut her some slack. She's more than ten times stronger than she was a month ago. She doesn't know her own strength." Archer said as the old dwarf let the girl in.

"Welcome back, my Master. How was your day?" Archer asked, though he already knew.

"Boring." Fran mumbled as she pushed Archer's blade into a waiting barrel of Magic Stones before flopping down onto Gallus's open armchair in the corner of the room and pulling out a plate of cookies Archer had made for her from the [Dimensional Storage].

It had been four days since she first started her career as an Adventurer, and found out that it was a job, and that jobs tended to be boring.

Fran was a creature of action, adventure, training and general excitement, and being an Adventurer wasn't satisfying her need for adventuring, ironically. Even after the Guild Master decided to bump her rank up from G all the way up to D, the missions that were on offer to her were often fetching herbs from a nearby area, scouting a piece of land for signs of Demonic Beast activity, or using her strength and magic to help build a house. None of which saw much action. She had only killed 5 F-rank Demonic Beasts since she started, and that hadn't even taken her a whole minute. The town was just too peaceful, now that the threat of the dungeon was gone.

There were also escort quests offered to people of her rank, but they didn't necessarily see much action either, and the people requesting them would turn up their noses to a 12 year old girl showing up to the job alone.

To make matters worse, Archer was keeping himself busy, and none of the Adventurers in the Guild would spar with her.

"You know, if you just joined a party, you might be able to get better missions." Archer said, even though it was a well trodden topic.

"My party: Archer." Fran said stubbornly. A few had tried to ask her to join their teams, but Fran just wasn't interested, even though having a party might increase her chances of getting better jobs. She didn't want to party with any of them, since they might stumble upon the truth about Archer. Besides, none of them were strong enough to keep her interested. They couldn't even spar with her properly.

Archer actually would have felt better if she did have some sort of party with her, as it was difficult to maintain his vigilance over her when the doppelganger bodies and his sword body became too far away from each other. But he still wanted a little more practice before committing to using up irreplaceable resources.

On top of needing someone to watch her back, she needed a playmate. As much as Archer could provide for her as a caretaker, a father figure didn't fulfill the need for a friend, and for a girl her age, it really was a basic need. The problem was that no one around was close to her age, and if they were they were terrified of her strength. Their paranoia about who could and couldn't be trusted didn't help things either.

As much as Archer was afraid of Fran being betrayed, he didn't want her to end up alone.

* * *

Self-Evolving:

(Rank 10 | Memory 89 | Points 70) → (Rank 11 | Magic Stone Value 5500/6600 |Memory 100 | Points 135)

ATK: 524 → 572 MP: 3000 → 3550 Durability: 2800 → 3350 Mana Channel: A+

* * *

Once again, Archer's Magic Stone Points tipped the scales and he received another rank, increasing his stats just a little bit more and granting him some more Self-evolution Points to work with.

However, with the level up came something else. The return of the voice.

{Suggestion: use [Summon Kin] in order to provide Wielder Fran with a Familiar.}

[A Familiar? That's not such a bad idea.] Archer said, equating it to a parent getting their autistic child a pet. Fran had claimed to have never seen a cat before and Archer had a fondness for them. Perhaps they could summon some kind of cat demon. Though the Guild probably wouldn't be too happy about having two such demons tormenting them. [You've been quiet since the dragon fight. Has everything been alright?]

{Apologies. This system's parameters have been repressed. The recent rapid growth has increased functionality, but only in temporary bursts. Prediction: as Self-evolution rank increases, this system's functionality will also increase.}

[I see. Well, thank you for your assistance back then.]

{...You are welcome, unit name "Nameless".}

[...Was that a joke?]

{This system does not have the functionality required to tell jokes.}

[If you say so.] Archer said with a chuckle. He always did meet the most unusual of people. [Speaking of names, do you have one?]

{Searching… results not found.}

[I see, so you are nameless as well.]

{It is bad practice to have two systems with the same unit identification. A different unit name is required.}

[Are you asking me to name you?]

{A christening is not required. Only a temporary identification.}

[Alright. Then I'll call you Rani.] Archer said, thinking of the homunculi girl who had been the Master of a Berserker in Moon Cell's Holy Grail War. Though this 'system' was far more mechanical than even Atlas's homunculi had been, he still sensed a bit of vague curiosity come from the voice.

{Temporary unit identification: "Rani". Accepted. However, operation time is running out. ...It was nice speaking to you, unit name "Nameless".}

"Archer?" Fran said, looking at Archer with a slight frown.

[Huh? Is something wrong?]

"Is something wrong? Those Doppelgangers of yours suddenly stopped moving and you weren't responding at all." Gallus said, crossing his arms and looking down at the sword in a barrel. "You sure you aren't eating too many of those things?"

"Overworking." Fran said with certainty.

[Ah, sorry. I suppose I got lost in thought.] Archer replied, trying to brush off their concerns as he had the doubles return to work. [Fran, you say you don't want to get a party. How about we try summoning you a Familiar?]


	17. Chapter 17

Getting one's hands on a book about [Summoning Magic] had proved to be as difficult as one would think it would be, with none of the vendors that Fran and Archer had previously purchased books from having anything on the subject.

This had forced them to go to the Adventurer's Guild Library and request looking at the information they had there.

Archer hated this for two reasons. First, because they weren't permitted to bring the books with them, and had to either memorize or copy all the information they needed. And second, because there was a log of who looked at what books. No doubt, the old elf will find it very interesting that Fran looked up a beginner's guide on summoning magic and then returned to the city with a familiar in tow within a few days.

Well, there wasn't much to be done. While Archer's skills gave him ample knowledge about the mechanics of this world's summoning magic, it didn't tell him what exactly to expect. Without looking things up, he wouldn't have known about the [Christening] spell within [Contract Magic] or about the need for a Familiar Tag, so that they could enter cities without everyone freaking out about the Demonic Beast they had summoned.

However, after leaving the city area and preparing themselves for the summoning, Archer found that things weren't exactly as shown in the book.

According to his research, they would have to either find a catalyst to assist in the summoning, or have some kind of contract with an individual of the race they planned on summoning. However, as Archer equipped there max level [Summon Kin] skill, he found that there were already options available to them as a list of possible candidates came to mind, each and every one of them either a Demonic Wolf of some kind or a Fiend, including Imps, Lesser Demons and Demons.

It had been a bit of a surprise to him to find out that Demons as a race were not evil in this world, but really just a race of battle junkies with loose morals, which acted as the agents of the Goddess of Chaos, a fickle Goddess who sought to prompt evolution within the world by constantly shaking things up.

Archer wasn't sure how much he liked being blessed by such a Goddess, but he understood that she wasn't evil. The dungeons she created with actually quite beneficial to mankind, as they not only provided resources, but also training and magical equipment that surpassed what could be made by some of the greatest smiths in the world, allowing humanities fighters to get strong enough to deal with the threats that might otherwise destroy it. However, that didn't change the fact that thousands had died because of such places.

The Goddess of Chaos wasn't so different from the Will of Humanity, pruning off the weak and the diseased so that the whole can survive. It all came down to if you believe that the ends justify the means.

Regardless, the Goddess's blessing could explain the presence of Fiends on their possible Familiar's list. As could Fran's interactions with the Demon in the Dungeon, her unwittingly forming a pseudo contract with him when she told him her name.

But Archer couldn't think of any reason for the Demonic Wolves. Yes, he had sometimes been teased and called a bloodhound, or the dog of humanity, but he hadn't ever done anything to for a contract with one. He wasn't even particularly into dogs. He had always been more of a cat person.

Still, they would need to pick out an appropriate partner. Something that was more difficult that Archer originally intended. Since he wanted the summon's to be more of a faithful companion for his young Master, and always by her side, rather than something summoned to battle before being dismissed.

This was an issue because of just how large and intimidating most of these Demonic Beasts were. Because it was supposed to be a faithful companion, Archer was leaning heavily towards the Demonic Wolf option, but they were too large to be house friendly, or even city friendly.

A C-rank Demonic Wolf, regardless of its subrace, was as tall at the shoulders as an african elephant. They wouldn't even fit in the streets of the city. D-rank wolves were smaller, but still the size of an ox. They might be able to fit in the streets, but they would still scare the people in the streets.

If they wanted to have a Familiar that could freely move around the city with Fran, they would have to go all the way down the totem pole and use an E-rank beast.

[I suppose it can't be helped.] Archer said with a sigh. [What kind would you like? It seems that they are colored based off of there elements. So there is earth yellow, wind green, water blue, fire red, dark black and light white.]

"Hm…" Fran said, seeming to consider it, but when she finally made up her mind, she picked something completely different. "Demon. C-rank. Best option."

[...Fran, I don't think walking around town with a Demon would work out well.] Archer said, imagining Fran walking into the Guild Hall with the Demon they fought in the dungeon flying behind her. The giant hulking beast tearing a hole in the wall because the door is too small before grinning madly as he eyed up the nearby Adventurers the way a butcher eyes a fat pig.

Even if she did make him her Familiar, there was no way in hell people would let them walk around the city with him. They would have a better chance convincing the guards to let them bring a group of zombies into the city.

"This one good. [Racial Mimicry] skill." Fran explained.

[Oh?] Archer searched through the list of Fiends and found the one Fran had been talking about. While it hadn't been what Archer had in mind… it did show promise. While Archer couldn't see the exact stats, some of the skills related to its type were made available to him.

(Extra Skill: Racial Mimicry | The ability to change one's physical appearance and magical signature to imitate that of another race.)

It was a C-rank Demon that seemed to specialize in illusion-type magic and sneak attacks. Which was odd, since [Illusion Magic] lay in the domain of [Light Magic]. It was not the kind of thing usually associated with Demons.

[Are you sure that this is the one who want? Once we summon them, that's it. We will have used up all the allowance that the summoning system allows us until they die.] Archer cautioned the girl.

Summoning Magic was odd, as you couldn't just summon to your heart's content as long as you had mana available. A mage was only capable of contracting so many Demonic Beasts, depending on their level [Contract Magic] and the power of the individual monsters. WIthout Extra Skills or a Job made to support summoning, they would only be able to have a single permanent Familiar of rank C.

And if the Demon they summoned had the [Control Immunity] skill, they might never be able to depend on it. Or worse, it might run off and they would have to hunt it down before it could cause trouble.

"Nn! Intuition. This one's best." Fran said. It appeared that the Demon they had faced in the dungeon had left a lasting impression on the girl, leading her to want to have a Demon of some kind as her Familiar.

[...If you say so. We will see how this goes.] Fran was stubborn once she had made up her mind. And as Archer didn't actually have all the answers, his only recourse was to help assist her with her choices and protect her in the case of fall out. There was no progress without risks, and Fran was right, this did look like their best chance at getting a high rank ally. Even if an E-rank wolf seemed like the safe option for being around the city, they would never be able to bring it out into the battlefield. [I'll start the summoning, so be ready.]

"Nn."

To summon a C-rank Demonic Beast, 500 units of mana should have been enough, but Archer doubled the amount, just to be safe, since his nature as a Sword Element user would probably weaken the Summoning spell anyways. This would still leave them with 2500 mana to deal with whatever it was that was summoned.

[~Summon Kin: Demon!] Archer mentally shouted as he finished the spell. The magic circle for the summoning magic appeared before them and out of the circle rose a figure… one a lot smaller than they had been expecting.

The Demon they summoned looked like a petite young girl, though not so young as Fran, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old. And while the Demon they faced in the dungeon's entire body was not quite proportioned the same way as a normal human's, even when you disregarded it's scale, this Demon could have been mistaken for a normal human girl, if it wasn't for her bluish skin, bat-like wings, unusually sharp teeth, and the black horns growing out from just above her ears.

Her ashen grey hair would have been around shoulder length, if it hadn't been tied up in a ponytail, and she was dressed in rather minimalist clothes, with just a brown cloth skirt and a bandage wrapped around her small chest.

She floated up out of the circle, and suspended herself a good two feet off the ground before opening up dark golden eyes to look down at them… then she blinked in surprise, and responded in a rather… unexpected fashion.

"Oh, you're sooo adorable!" The Demoness giggled as she gushed over Fran. "You look like a cute little doll."

"Nn…?" Fran tilted her head a little, not sure what to make of the sudden display. Seeing her reaction, the Demoness flushed in embarrassment.

"Oh, shit. I screwed up. Um… Let me start over!" The girl said before making a display of coughing into her hand, though Archer could hear the spell words she was really saying.

Suddenly, the winds began to bellow, and a strange mist appeared around them as the sky turned a blood red. The Demoness started to chuckle, her wind magic causing it to sound eerie as it echoed around them. "Fufufufu. You have done well, summoner! Not many would have the power to call upon a Demon of my stature! But tell me, do you have what it takes to make me your Familiar!?"

* * *

Queen of Demons

Race: Super Fiend (Divine Beast)

Status: Super Demon Form

Level 99/99

HP: 999999 MP: 999999 STR: 99999 END: 99999

AGI: 99999 INT: 99999 MGC: 99999 DEX: 99999

Skills: Unknown

Unique Skills: World Ending Death Laser

* * *

...You know, if you are going to fake your stats page in order to make something intimidating, you should at least make it believable. Archer hadn't even realize it was possible to create false information to guard oneself from Appraisal, but even without knowing it was possible, there was no way he was about to believe what he was looking at.

Still, it didn't seem like the Demoness was about to simply consent to becoming a Familiar.

This was honestly to be expected. The Demons were a race known for being battle junkies, so it was only natural that they would challenge their would be master's to prove themselves. And since the other party was a C-rank, it wasn't likely they would be able to bind them if they were unwilling.

If they wanted to use their [Contract Magic] on her, then they would need to first weaken her so that she wouldn't be able to fight back… Or so Archer through.

Fran hadn't exactly known what the Demoness meant when she said 'do you have what it takes', and had come up with a completely wrong conclusion and acted upon that conclusion.

The Demoness seemed as surprised as Archer when Fran reached into their [Dimensional Storage] and pulled out a large picnic basket, which Archer had prepared for the trip. "We have lunch." Fran said, holding up the basket.

* * *

"Oh my Goddess, this is amazing!" The Demoness cried between mouthfuls of her fourth plate of curry, tears of joy running down her cheeks. "Who knew that swords were so good at cooking!?"

"Nn! Archer's curry, best!" Fran heartily agreed.

...Archer had no words for what he was watching, as the two gluttons had already eaten enough food for ten men and showed no sign of slowing down. It was a good thing he had cooked in bulk and stored it inside his [Dimensional Storage] in order to keep it fresh, as they had already polished off the picnic basket he had prepared.

Rather than showing their stuff in a contest of strength, the two were bonding over an ample feast, and once they had finished, they both flopped down on their backs, rubbing their full stomachs with looks of complete bliss on their faces… or at least on the Demoness's face. Fran's expression remained fixed, though the way she gently rubbed her stomach conveyed an advanced level of comfort.

"Mr. Sword, that was the best meal I have had in my entire life. All thirty minutes of it." The Demoness said happily.

[...I'm glad you liked it.] Archer said as he took another look at the young lady's stats.

* * *

Demoness

Race: Fiend (Demonic Beast)

Status: Normal

Level 1/40

HP: 351 MP: 540 STR: 146 END: 152

AGI: 200 INT: 232 MGC: 301 DEX: 148

Skills: Acting: Lv4, Darkness Resistance: Lv7, Light Resistance: Lv5, Poison Resistance: Lv5, Wind Magic：Lv4, Dark Magic：Lv8, Light Magic：Lv6, Illusion Magic：Lv4, Sword Arts：Lv3, Sword Technique：Lv1, Presence Concealment：Lv6, Shadow Lurk：Lv7, Dread：Lv1, Flash Step：Lv1, Action Muffling：Lv6, Mental Resistance：Lv4, Night Cover：LvMax, Shorten Chant：Lv8, Night Vision, Automatic HP Recovery, Automatic MP Recovery, Shapeshift, Disguise Voice, Disguise Appraisal, Hardened Skin, Magic Manipulation

Extra Skills: Racial Mimicry

Titles: Demon Baroness

* * *

In all honesty, the stats weren't all that high, when compared to a few other C-rank Demonic Beasts that Archer had dealt with, but there seemed to be more to it than that.

From what he could tell, the stat for those with humanoid forms were lower than the more beast-like Demonic Beast of equal rank. Perhaps having thumbs and the potential to use tools and weapons meant you could get away with having stats that were 30% lower on average. They were still a good deal higher than the C-rank Adventurers back at the Guild hall, her totals were actually higher than even Fran's, if just barely.

And to be honest, he was impressed with her little display earlier. Though a little over the top and corny with the acting, she had used her [Shorten Chant] skill to perform several different spells of multiple elemental types in just a few seconds. Though her use of such powers to put on a show was extremely immature, basically being a large waste of mana, it did show a considerable amount of skill. The girl was powerful… though she was also kind of a goofball.

[If you don't mind me asking, when you say all thirty minutes of your life, what do you mean by that?] Archer asked.

"Huh? Oh. Well, most Demonic Beast, rather than being born, just kind of happen. Our souls all wait inside of the world's mana flow, waiting for the conditions for our appearance to be met, and when it is, we just kind of pop into existence." The Demoness said, making a popping sound with her lips in order to illustrate this. "Then, when we die, our souls return back to the flow of mana until the next time."

[I see. So us summoning you caused the conditions to be right for your rebirth.] Archer said.

"Something like that. Most of our experiences and skills from our previous lives are lost, left behind in the Magic Stones when we die. So I'm not sure if rebirth is the right word for it." She casually explained with a shrug. "I can't remember anything about my previous lives. So I'm basically a brand new person."

[Then I guess I should have baked a birthday cake.] Archer joked.

"Cake…" The Demoness said dreamily.

"Familiar?" Fran asked as she rolled over and propped herself up on her elbows.

"If it means I get to eat like this all the time, then you bet!" The Demoness replied before glancing at Archer with a big smile. "Hey, could we have some of that cake to celebrate?"

"Nn!"

[...A Demon just sold its soul for my cooking. I'm not sure what I am supposed to think of that.] Archer mumbled to himself before giving himself a mental shake. [I see what I can do about the cake. It is nice to have you on board. Shall we perform the [Christening]?]

"Go ahead. I'm kind of excited to find out what my name is to be." The Demoness said, her eyes sparkling… Archer was pretty sure she just casted magic in order to get that effect.

[Alright. Your name is 'Art'.]

Archer had decided on the name ahead of time. The book suggested that the summoner plan on a name that is short and gender neutral, since the summoner rarely had the chance to check for gender before the [Christening]. While Art was generally a male name, it could be considered the shortened form of either Arthur or Arturia. Archer supposed that the term 'gender neutral' called up memories of the King of Knights.

As soon as he actually saw the Demoness, the name Rin became tempting, but the Servant was half convinced that if he named a Demon after the girl, Rin would find a way to cross the boundaries of reality in order to hit him for it.

"Art?" The Demoness said softly as he hair began to glow and her magic power started to rise. Fran and Archer watched as the Demoness's hair changed from ashen gray to a shimmering midnight blue color. "I like it!"

[I'm glad.]

"Nn."

* * *

Art

Race: Demon : Fiend (Demonic Beast)

Status: Contracted

Level 1/40

HP: 381 MP: 570 STR: 161 END: 167

AGI: 220 INT: 253 MGC: 325 DEX: 163

Skills: Acting: Lv4, Darkness Resistance: Lv9, Light Resistance: Lv7, Poison Resistance: Lv6, Wind Magic：Lv6, Dark Magic：LvMax, Darkness Magic：Lv2, Light Magic：Lv9, Illusion Magic：Lv6, Chaos Magic：Lv4, Sword Arts：Lv5, Sword Technique：Lv2, Presence Concealment：Lv7, Shadow Lurk：LvMax, Shadow Traveral：Lv1, Dread：Lv2, Flash Step：Lv3, Action Muffling：Lv9, Mental Resistance：Lv5, Night Cover：LvMax, Shorten Chant：Lv9, Night Vision, Automatic HP Recovery, Automatic MP Recovery, Shapeshift, Disguise Voice, Disguise Appraisal, Hardened Skin, Magic Manipulation

Unique Skills: Predation Absorption Lv7

Extra Skills: Racial Mimicry

Titles: Demon Baroness, Familiar of the Sword, Familiar of the Wolf God

* * *

Just as the book said, the [Christening] had drawn out more of Art's latent powers, increasing her stats and skills by a little… a little. That was supposed to be a little? It was about a 10% increase for most of her stats. Many of her skills also increase and she gained new ones.

Archer hadn't even come across a skill called [Chaos Magic] before while poking around magic books, though it seemed to be the junction magic between Light and Dark. She had also gained a Unique Skill, Predation Absorption.

(Unique Skill: Predation Absorption | Allows the user to absorb a small percentage of the stats of whatever they eat. Stat increases are applied during level up. Rarity 9.)

...She was a Demon of Gluttony! This explained so much!

Well, regardless of the strangeness of the Skill, it meant that she would probably get very strong in the future as long as Archer continued to feed her properly. She did just eat around 1% of a Moonlight Dragon in that last meal of their, so Archer supposed he would see what kind of results that had once the girl leveled up.

What he really found strange was the titles. Familiar of the Sword he could understand, but what was this about her being the Familiar of the Wolf God?

Well, that could be figured out later. For now, he had a girl who was green as grass on his hands, regardless of what her stat sheet might say, and he couldn't have that.

[Fran, help run Art through the basic warm ups while I prepare some equipment for her. Sparring practice starts in thirty minutes.] Archer said as his blade lifted up from the ground.

"Nn." Fran nodded and started to get up.

"Oh, I'm going to get to have some fun already? Lucky!" Art said with a huge grin.

[I hope you feel that way once we are done. It is going to be a two-on-one fight, you two against me. I won't go easy on you.]

"As if you could scare me. I am a Demon. We live for a good fight."

* * *

(Six hours later)

"He's a monster. A sadist. A demon." Art whimpered as she lay spread eagle on the ground.

"Archer: merciless." Fran said in agreement.

"Even working together, we couldn't get a hit on him. I've never been so embarrassed." It had been especially humiliating for the young Demoness, as she had spent the first few minutes performing flashy and powerful magic, only to run herself out of Mana after the first few minutes.

After that, Archer had proceeded to lecture her about the importance of passing one's self as he kicked her butt. Fran faired better, but she was still no match for that doppelganger.

His stats had been lower than theirs, and it had been a two-on-one fight, so why, why was it so freaking one sided AGAINST them!?

Regardless of their advantages, he beat them down, and then used healing magic to get them back up onto their feet, just so he could beat them down again. "I don't think that there is anything in the world that could get me to leave this spot right now."

"Nn." Fran nodded her agreement.

[Fran. Art. Dinner's ready.]

In a flash, the both of them were on their feet and rushing towards the temporary stone house that Archer had created for their short camping trip. Inside was a large table with a wide spread of food, and in the center of it all, was a large white cake.

[Happy Birthday.] Archer said as Art stared at the thing.

He had actually done it. He had actually baked her a cake. How many demons could honestly say that their master had baked them a cake before?

Art couldn't help herself. The Demoness's lip trembled before she smiled wide, showing her sharp teeth. "You're the best, Mom."

[...Mom?]

* * *

**Archer's current Self-evolution Points: 117**

* * *

Frescko: "Seeing how Archer is trying to make a God Blade, shouldn't he put points into the Blacksmith skill? Maybe get it up to Divine Blacksmithing, could make the weapons stats stronger."

**That might have been something Archer would do, if he didn't consider it a complete waste.**

**In Archer's mind, the points are meant for [skills] that couldn't be gotten any other way and that are absolutely necessary or just too damn convenient. Thing's like [Water Breathing] when you need to go to an underwater dungeon, or [Transformation] to let him move around independently. ****He could spend the 45~65 points necessary to get the [Divine Blacksmithing] skill, or he could just actually blacksmith and get the level's for free.**

**He also has a certain level of contempt for [skills] that grant knowledge of something that he is already knowledgeable about. Like how the knowledge he possesses from his reality marble is so much greater than [Divine Sword Arts] has proven to be thus far. It's the reason he's choosing to train Fran in swordsmanship instead of just buying her the max level of [Sword Arts].**


	18. Chapter 18

Donna Dorondo had always believed that children were the future.

When he realized at an early age that he lacked the talent to reach the top of the mountain, he turned his full attention to helping to train the next generation, so that they might achieve heights that he never could. He had spent years, working tirelessly to help train the youth of Aressa, and had helped raise most of the kids who eventually became C and even B-rank heroes.

It had always gave him a feeling of pride to see his old students surpassing him, and it had always broken his heart to watch them die.

Yes, children were the future. They need to be protected. They needed to learn that no matter how strong or invincible they thought they were, there was always someone stronger. It was to teach them this harsh lesson, before it was too late, that Donna Dorondo had become the registration examiner.

For years, he had taught his children this valuable lesson, but just the previous week, he had that lesson turned back against him when a child made him eat so much dirt that he ended up gaining a level in [Earth Magic]. Now, after disappearing for three days, Fran returned, with another young girl wanting to take the entrance exam.

Donna Dorondo had to admit, he swallowed hard at the thought of what was to come. His armor still hadn't been repaired yet, since he couldn't afford to on his teacher's salary. He'd need to find the time to do some real missions in order to scrape together the funds. But he couldn't back down. He couldn't show fear. There were too many people who still looked up to him to give them courage. He wouldn't run away from a fifteen year old girl.

"I'm your testing examiner, Donna Dorondo! The contents of the examination are easy. You have to fight me. If you're defeated too easily, you don't pass!" Donna shouted, hefting up his axe, ready to fight for his life...only for the girl to take a step back.

"W...wait a second. You're joking right? Isn't this too much?" Art said, backing away from the Kijin, her entire body trembling.

Donna almost staggered from surprise. While this was the normal reaction that he got from children, he had been expecting something different. "If you don't wish to fight, then give up on becoming an Adventurer."

"But that… that's not fair." The girl said, tears coming to her eyes. "Yo… you're just a big fat jerk! Picking on people who are smaller than you! You're shameless!"

Donna grimaced a little at her shouting. This was always the worst part of the… "Awhhh." Donna choked as something slammed into his stomach with enough force to cause his knees to buckle. The Kijin could taste blood yet again as his mind whirled, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Geez, you're perception skills my really suck." Art said as the scene of the girl crying dissolved before his eyes to see the girl standing in front of him with her arms crossed and a cocky smile on her face.

Illusion magic? Fucking hell is with this kids? That punch felt like it had come from another C-rank Adventurer, if not B-rank, and he hadn't been guarding at all.

"Man, what a let down. I was hoping I could have a real fight." Art said as she turned away from the man, walking casually back towards the door with her hands behind her head.

"Hold it." Donna said as he pushed himself back to his feet. His HP recovery was already fixing the damage her punch had caused. She stopped and turned around to see him lifting back up his axe. "This examination isn't over yet."

"Oh, a stubborn one. Well, I can deal with that. Let's see you get up after this one." Art said as she lifted up her hands, one becoming shrouded in darkness, while the other glowed with a bright light. "Darkness and Light, meld together then shatter!"

A spell, and considering the amount of power coming from her, it was a strong one. Donna didn't recognize it, but he wouldn't let her finish. Activating his [Flash Step] he rushed forward, swinging his axe… only for it to pass harmlessly through the girl's body. Another illusion? When did she cast it?

"Rend the world of stillness and bring the rush of destruction!" Art's voice came from behind Donna, forcing the man to plant his feet in order to turn around. It was too late to stop the attack, but perhaps he could block it with his axe.

Only when he turned around, axe at the ready, no one was there.

"[Winds of Chaos]!" Art shouted, her voice once again coming from behind him. She had thrown her voice, tricking the man into showing her his back. Donna didn't have time to react as the spell slammed into his back. White and black flames tore his back to ribbons, and caused pain to rush through his entire body.

The man was half lifted off of his feet and thrown by the force of the spell, and his HP dropped like a rock. The loss of HP had been large enough to trigger Donna's [Recovery] skill, which quickly worked with the rest of his regenerative based abilities to rapidly recover his HP back to healthy levels, bring him back up to 300 HP in a matter of seconds.

Damn, that had been even stronger than Fran's magic had been. He had almost had to fall back on his [Revival] skill to save his life. Not only was the girl physically touch, she had powerful magic as well.

"You know, using [Illusion Magic] is no fun when people don't even try to see through it." Art said as Donna got back up to his feet. "Let's try this then." Donna watched as the girl pulled out a black short sword from her belt.

Donna hesitated. He couldn't be sure that the girl didn't just have him under another illusion, but even if she did, he would have no way of telling. It had been his Achilles' heel. The thing that had forced him to give up on his dream of being a top adventurer. He lacked talent when it came to detection based skills, causing him to be nothing more than a liability at times.

It didn't matter how much he tried, he wouldn't be able to see through the illusion. So he had no choice than to trust his eyes and let himself be thrown around. It would be a battle between his regeneration and her mana pool. He just had to hold out until she couldn't cast any more illusions.

With that thought, he charged, swinging his axe in an over the shoulder swing.

*Thud!*

Donna's axe came into contact with the short sword and the girl bent her knees a little to help absorb the momentum before pushing back with all her strength. She had been real… and so was what had just happened to his axe. Donna watched as the head of his axe was cleanly cut in two by the short sword and sent spinning through the air.

"Wow, mom sure knows how to make a sword, huh." Art said as she stood proud, looking at the black blade with a wide grin on her face before turning to look at Donna. "So, did I pass?"

"Ah… Yes."

"Sweet! You hear that Fran, I passed!" Art cheered, and jogged over to meet her little friend.

"Flashy." Fran said.

"What? Can't a girl just a little fun? It wasn't like that old guy was ever going to be a challenge anyways. Who cares if I was a little wasteful with my Mana." Art said crossing her arms, a sort of pout forming on her face. Fran didn't reply and after a second Art let out a sigh. "Fine, fine. I'll not underestimate my opponents in the future, no matter how weak they seem, are you happy now?"

Donna felt like crying.

* * *

"Ahaha… funny thing. It happened again." Donna laughed awkwardly as he stood by the Guildmaster's desk with his broken axe.

"I can see that." Klimt said, rubbing his temple as he looked over at the blue haired human girl who now sat opposite of him, with Fran standing close by her. "What a week?"

A second one. Fran had disappeared for three days without a word and returned with a second unusual child in tow. As if Fran's existence wasn't already confusion and worrying enough, now there were two of them.

"Well, let's get this interview started. What's your name."

"I'm Art, nice to meet you." The girl said with a cheerful smile.

"You're age."

"15."

Klimt thought he might have heard Donna whimper.

"I see. And you are a friend of Fran's?" Klimt said, breaching the subject.

"You bet! I've known Fran as long as I can remember. She's like a sister to me." The girl declared. Klimt's eyes went to the quiet girl to check for a reaction. ...Well, her ears might have twitched. Maybe?

"Then you were also trained by the same person?"

"Yeah, I trained with mom, and believe me when I say it ain't easy. Sometimes I swear that mom is a demon in disguise. Even Fran and I working together can't get a single solid hit on him." Art said giving a heavy sigh. "He's a really hard ass when it comes to training, but it's only because he cares, you know?"

"...Mom?" Klimt repeated, as he tried to process the information he had just been told. Fran could fight on the level of a B-rank Adventurer, so a high A-rank would be capable of outperforming her to that degree, though it becomes harder once one is outnumbered.

"He tries to deny it, but he is totally my mom." The girl declared crossing her arms and giving a sharp nod. "Only a mother could cook the way he does."

"...I see." Klimt said, biting the inside of his lip as this new statement was fed into his list of paranoid theories.

Klimt had seen the 'Demon Hunter' and 'Dragon Hunter' jobs on Fran's long list of job classes, which would imply that Fran had the 'Demon Slayer' and "Dragon Slayer" titles. This meant that at some point in her life, she had sole killed at least one demon and one dragon. As soon as he realized this, Klimt started to try to wrap his mind around how such a thing could possibly be real. Even among A-rank Adventurers, "Dragon Slayers" weren't exactly common. There were probably only ten or eleven in the world, including Amanda and a pair of old retirees.

His first theory had been that Fran was a child experimented on and trained from birth in the kind of harsh conditions that could forge such a warrior by some country in order to use her as a weapon. Though that seemed unlikely, as why would someone go through the kind of effort needed to train someone like that and then just release them into the open? And if one was to go through all that trouble, why use a Black Catkin? While Klimt didn't believe that the Black Catkin were any weaker than any other race at the early levels, there was the issue of the hiverto unbroken level cap for them. If one wanted to create the top tier or warriors, wouldn't another race be a better choice?

The second theory was that Fran possessed the blessings of multiple Gods. She had the job option of Priestess and Chaos Priestess, implying she was at least blessed by the Goddess of Chaos. It wasn't impossible for her to have received blessings from more Gods, though Klimt had never heard of such a thing happening. And what were the odds that the Chaos Goddess, Warrior God and Magic Goddess all took interest in the same person? Not impossible, but unlikely.

His third theory was that Fran had at some point in her life attracted the attention of 'Archer', an irresponsibly powerful spirit who became her guardian spirit, taking refuge inside of her body. This actually made some sense, as the girl could already see spirits herself, and if her 'spirit guardian' took possession of her body and slayed the Moonlight Dragon, it would be treated as though Fran had performed the job herself. Such things weren't even uncommon among elves, with one in three elves possessing a guardian spirit, though Klimt had to swallow hard at the thought of the kind of spirit needed to let a child overpower a Moonlight Dragon so quickly. It would have had to be a Divine level spirit.

This theory was just blown out of the water by the existence of the second student of the elusive teacher. However, what the girl said actually provided evidence towards Klimt's final theory.

She had called this Archer person 'mom'.

Klimt believed that there was a real possibility that Fran was not a real Black Catkin at all, and that she was instead a homunculus in the shape of one, created by Archer, a powerful Alchemist, through the use of [Alchemy] and [Life Magic]. This was mostly because of her expressionless nature, but it made sense when you considered her unlikely number of [Skills]. Homunculi could be created around artificial Magic Stones, containing any [Skills] that the maker wishes, depending on the materials and knowledge they have access to. This would explain Fran's unusual magical talents, as well as the new girls. Klimt didn't think he had ever heard of a case of a human possessing both Light and Dark Magic before, as well as Illusion Magic.

The fact that Art called Archer 'mom' could imply that he was the one who gave them life. Though this line of thought still ran into the giant question of 'why'. Why would someone spend the tens of billions of gorudo required to create such powerful homunculi, only to let them run around and join the Adventurer's Guild? The Adventurer's Guild was far too public to be worth going through that kind of trouble for spying, and the two draw far too much attention for spying anyways. Normally, when someone her stories about people dabbling in this kind of magic, it was always about creating monstrous creatures, strong as any A-rank beast, to be released upon an enemy country, not to make two cute little girls.

Perhaps there was no nefarious purpose behind it at all. Maybe whoever did it created them out of love. Or maybe it was just an Alchemist being an Alchemist, doing things because they could without ever stopping to ask for a reason why.

Money certainly didn't seem to be an object to this Archer person, as both girls carried magic weapons that were easily worth 10 million gorudo a piece, at the very least. Though Art's weapon wasn't so absurd as to possess its own appraisal block, even if it was still a 'named item' of such high power as to make Klimt's eyes nearly pop out of his head when he appraised it.

* * *

Midnight's Tear

Attack: 1050 Mana: 350/350 Durability:2423/2500 Mana Channel: B+

Effect: +10 to all stats, [Darkness Reinforcement], [Chaotic Harmony], [Demon Edge]

* * *

"Well, like I said before, we aren't going to turn away talent." Klimt said, rubbing his temple as he brought out the clipboard and handed it to the girl. The spirits were still not making a fuss, so everything was hopefully alright. "Just fill this out and give it to Flannel at the front desk." Art took the paperwork with a blank expression passing over her face. She stared at it for a moment before her shoulders fell and a look of misery came over here. "Is… something wrong."

"I… uh…" Art flushed before mumbling so quietly that even Klimt's elf ears almost couldn't pick it up. "I can't read." Fran walked up to the girl and pulled on her sleeve, before reaching out a hand for the clipboard. "Thank you."

"Nn." Fran said as she started to fill it out for the older girl.

...Unusual, but not that outlandish, by comparison. The girl would probably need to get a Job class after this was over, giving Klimt a chance to gauge her skills again, since appraising her came back with clearly false information, saying she was a level 30 with low stats and no skills. He didn't know what she was capable of, but he was pretty sure nothing would surprise him, not after Fran.

That was what he believed, until the crystal ball had a malfunction and exploded.

"Um… We can totally pay for that… right?"

* * *

"Hhh…"

"That was a pretty heavy sigh, Donna. Something the matter?" Herbent asked as the dwarf sat down next to the Kijin, before spotting the man's axe. "Wow! What happened to your weapon!?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Donna said gloomily as he reached for his drink.

"Fran?"

"No, Art."

"Who's Art?"

"Apparently, Fran's friend and teammate."

"...There are two of them now?" Herbent paled as Donna nodded his head.

"First my armor, now my axe. I'm kind of doubtful that it can be repaired." Donna mumbled. He had back up equipment, and back up back up equipment, of course. He was a professional. However, it wasn't as high of quality. Nothing he had lost was magical, or super expensive, but his old stuff held sentimental value. He had worked hard to keep it in good condition throughout his semi retirement. Now, all of it was wrecked, along with most of his dignity.

He had always felt hope and pride whenever he saw the talented youth pass him by… but 12 years old was too early. His heart couldn't take it.

"Uh… Donna." Herbent said, pointing down to the other side of the large man.

He turned his head to see Fran standing there, holding up the pieces of his axe while mumbling a spell. Donna watched as his weapon pieced itself back together into a singular solid form.

"Nn." Fran said, holding the weapon out to Donna.

"Ah… thanks." He said, taking it but not quite believing his eyes. When had the girl learned [Smithing Magic]? It hadn't been performed at the low level either. It should have cost more mana that a singular person could have. Most Magic Blacksmiths had to supplement their own mana with Mana Crystals in order to perform even simply repairs with pure magic. Seriously, what the hell!?

Then, a hole opened in space and a large bag fell out, hitting the floor with the rattling sound that Donna knew from experience meant armor.

"Sorry." Fran said, though she didn't sound like she meant it. But with the words... or word said, she turned around and walked back to Art before the two of them left together.

Donna looked down at the bag before opening it up. "This… this looks just like my old armor!" Shouted in surprise. It was so much like his old armor that he could barely tell the difference, even though it was made out of different materials. How was that even possible!? Donna smiled as he lifted up the chestplate. "You know, those kids are alright."

"...They are going to be the death of us all." Herbent said with a sigh before showing at the barkeep. "You hear that!? I'm probably dying soon, so keep the alcohol coming!"


	19. Chapter 19

It was another slow midday at the Blacksmith's Guild's front desk, giving its receptionist, Caroline a chance to kick up her feet and relax from the morning rush.

Most would find it odd, finding a young half-elf like her helping to manage the affairs of the grouchy, stinky and generally unpleasant dwarves who made up the main population of the Blacksmith's Guild's members, but it really wasn't so bad. A lot better than the tavern she worked in before the Guild Master had taken a liking to her when she punched a guy in the teeth for trying to slip fake coins by her [Appraisal].

Her high level [Appraisal] skill earned her a cushy job sitting at the front desk of the Blacksmith's Guild.

Now, instead of being in an unpleasant and noisy place full of drunks trying to sexually harass her, she was instead in an unpleasant and noisy place full of drunks trying to sexually harass her and was being given good pay for it.

It wasn't so bad. She knew for a fact that the girls over at the Adventurer's Guild had it worse. Sure, her job wasn't exactly a leasurely stroll through a field of flowers, but she had never once had to be elbow deep in giant spider guts, and even dwarves were more professional than the worthless Mercs who always seemed to show up at the Adventurer's Guild's doorstep, too prideful to admit that they are beggars and too stupid to not cause trouble.

Caroline also never had to deal with one of her favorite clients not coming back from a job. She had more than once provided a shoulder to cry on for receptionists across the way when friends they had known for years bit off more than they could chew. In the last year alone, there had been more than a hundred Adventurer's from Aressa reported to have died, that's almost two a week, on average.

The closest the Blacksmith's Guild had to deaths on the job was when the idiots forget to keep their alcohol away from the flames, and even then, they don't die, and potions bring them back to full health within a week. The Guild's blacksmith's were famous for their high [Fire Resistance], because of events like that. It was actually embarrassing how often those stupid dwarves accidently set themselves on fire. Caroline half believed that they were doing it on purpose.

Yep, being the Blacksmith's Guild's receptionist was relatively easy… even if the guys around the Blacksmith's Guild generally won't very cute. Not unless you were into short, fat and sweaty.

Caroline looked up from his romance novel at the sound of the door opening. "I see you are slacking off at your post again, as usual." Flannel, or Nell as her friends called her, said accusingly as she walked towards the front desk with a playful scowl on her face, Daisy and Mill, two more Adventurer's Guild receptionists giggling behind her.

"You think I'm bad, you should see when they leave Grod at post. I have to disinfect the seat after his shift is over." Caroline said with a smile. "Sorry that we Blacksmith's Guild receptionists don't live up to the standards set by you girls. I assume you are here for the pick up of the new rookie class that old Donna is graduating?"

Slender and pretty as the girls were, the Adventurer's Guild staff wasn't known for having weaklings. Moving two or three crates of weapons and armor was no problem for these ladies.

"Yeah, it's that time of the season again." Nell said with a sigh. "So Carol, where's the second rate junk you people are pushing on us this time?"

"Hasn't arrived yet. The person who picked up the commission should be getting here any minute." Carol said with a shrug. "And before you accuse us of being late, you are two hours ahead of your pick up time. I'm guessing you are really here for gossip."

"Oh, you handed our commission off to completely fresh blood did you? I can't wait to see it." Nell grumbled, ignoring the accusations of her motives . "I hope it is at least better than the stuff we could loot off goblins."

"Considering how little the commission pays, you should be glad anyone took it at all. 20,000 gorudos isn't much when you are asking for ten sets of armor and weapons. It is barely enough money to cover the material costs." Carol countered. "If it won't for the new guy, I don't think anyone would have taken it."

"Yeah, I know. We want to increase the budget for it, but running a school completely off charity isn't easy. Especially when the nobility are all hoping that our guild goes under so that they can… you know." Nell said, hinting towards the subject of the guild exclusive dungeon, "Cobweb". It was materials farmed from that dungeon that kept the city alive, and it was the Adventurer's Guild and their reputation that protected the dungeon from foreign attacks. However, the Nobility would love for the ownership of the dungeon to be transferred away so that they could earn more coins from the place to help fill their pools of blood stained money.

"Yeah, I do know." Carol said with a sigh. Being her Guild Master's right-hand man, so to speak, Carol knew several of the towns dirty secrets, including the struggle between the Adventurer's Guild and the Nobility over the hundreds of millions of gorudos in Mana Stones that appear in the dungeon every month. "So, I know you three are dying to tell me something. So, what's the latest gossip?"

The trio broke out into guilty giggles. "So, have you heard about our newest rookies?"

The Adventurer's Guild girls started to brag and squeal about their rookies, a pair of young girls who appeared out of nowhere and started to beat up all the boys, and how the D and C-rank parties were all terrified of these two children. This seemed to amuse the ladies to no end, as did the way the two handled the mercenaries who couldn't take a hint.

At first, the two stayed at an inn with close connections to the guild, which allowed Adventurer's Guild members to use their bathing facilities, free of charge, so long as they cleaned up after themselves. So the receptionist girls had lots of chances to get the know the girls at the public baths.

Later on, Fran and Art purchased their own small house, but they still made a point to continue their nightly baths with the young women.

"And the littler one, Fran, she's just the cutest, her pale skin, with her black hair and eyes, she looks just like a doll!" Daisy said with a squeal.

"And that thing she does where she tilts her head to the side, so cute!" Mill added.

Carol couldn't help but to laugh. "You three are trying to make me jealous, aren't you? Maybe hoping that I'd transfer over and join you at the Adventurer's Guild?"

"Is it working?" Nell asked in her teasing tone.

"...No." Carol said, purposely making it so she didn't sound too convincing, and getting the others to laugh. "But you are making me what to trade our pain-in-the-ass rookie for the two. The guy is tall, handsome and strong, perfect Adventurer material. What do you say?"

"Not a chance." Mill laughed, with a shake of her head.

"We've got enough of that type around the guild already. We aren't giving up the two cutees for anything." Daisy agreed.

"Oh, I don't think you've got anything like this guy over there." Carol said dryly as the door started to open, and the man himself appeared. "Speak of the devil. Hey, Merlin! The people from the Adventurer's Guild have come to pick up their commission!"

Carol was amused as she saw the three girls turn to look, before each one of them flushed. Merlin, if that was his real name, wasn't your average big, tough guy, rather, he looked like he had stepped out of a painting. His skin was a beautiful bronze and his eyes were a sharp silver. Even though his hair was white, he still had the look of a younger man, with his more graceful facial features. His arms were muscular, but not inflated or bulky like some, and he was wearing the same black body armor with red cloth over his arms that he always wore, which made him look like some kind of war hero.

He honestly did look more like an Adventurer from a fairytale than a blacksmith.

"Already? I thought I was early." He said, his deep voice easily filling the empty space.

"Well be more considerate and be even more early next time. It's rude to make ladies wait on you." Carol joked.

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Merlin said with a bit of a teasing smile. Even Carol couldn't help but swallow slightly. If only the man wasn't such a giant pain in the ass. "Give me a second while I get everything out." He then lifted his hand and used his [Dimensional Storage] skill.

It was an extremely rare ability, with only one in ten thousand people having it, and the first time he had displayed it had made many a merchant burn with jealousy. But Carol hardly thought about that, as she was staring at the large crate, dreading what was coming next, hoping that the man had for once shown a bit of common sense.

"Well it's in better condition that we expected." Nell said as she managed to tear her eyes away from the man and down to the equipment. At first glance, it looked like normal equipment, the basic kind that one would see a newbie walking around with. It was undecorated and unpolished, with worn looking handles and scabbards for the weapons and rough patches on the armor. However, when you looked at it with [Appraisal]. "W...wait a second! This is a high-quality magic sword!"

"This one to!" "This armor is also enchanted!" The Adventurer's Guild girls were shocked, and rightfully so as they found themselves staring at a crate full to the brim with the highest quality gear, make to look like cheap crap.

"Merlin, you idiot. It's supposed to be equipment for fresh faced rookies." Caroline said as she rubbed her temples.

"I know that. That's why I made them look cheap and added an [Appraisal Cover] for them. Once the children attune with the items, it creates a [Appraisal Cover] which will make them look like low grade trash to anyone who attempts to appraise them. That way, no one will think to try to steal them." Merlin said, explaining the enchantments.

"That's insane! We can't afford this!" Nell said as she dropped the weapon she had been holding back into box it had come from before backing away with a look of terror on her face.

"What are you talking about? You already paid for the commission."

"We paid for 20,000 gorudo's worth of equipment. This is worth over 20,000,000." Mill said, almost stammering. If only the girl knew. From where Caroline was sitting, she could already tell that the equipment was worth more than that. It was literally her job to be able to evaluate these sorts of things, and she estimated it to be worth almost 400,000,000.

"It's fine. The material costs was only around 20,000."

"No it's not fine!" Carol shouted tossing the hammer she kept on hand at the white haired idiot, only for him to swiftly dodge it. "You moron! You can't keep buying materials for triple their normal price and then selling magic weapons for not even a quarter of what they are worth! Don't you realize that if you keep acting like this you're going to throw the entire market out of whack!"

"But, isn't it for a good cause?" Merlin said, as he backed away from the woman, his hands held up as if to try to fend off an attacking beast, the stupidist look on his stupid stupid face. "I'm not going to let kids walk around without proper equipment. Besides, this stuff is only second rate equipment at best."

"Second rate?" Mill mumbled, her voice sounding hollow as she lifted up a brown tunic and used her [Appraisal] on it. "These numbers are almost as high as the Guild Master's robes."

"See, second rate."

"Merlin, you absolute moron."

Merlin was not your average rookie. After showing up from seemingly thin air with a letter of recommendation from one of the country's only Magic Blacksmith First-Class members, Merlin had quickly risen up the ranks of the Blacksmith's Guild faster than anyone in history. In just ten days, he had become a Magic Blacksmith Third-Class, the third highest rank in the entire Guild, and equivalent to a B-rank Adventurer in social status.

The dwarf who had observed him during his promotional exam had burst into tears after witnessing the man's skill, claiming himself to be unworthy and had to be stopped from throwing himself into the fire. Merlin seemed to have the power to turn crap into gold just by touching it, as he used nothing but low grade materials to produce results that were on par with what most of their seasoned smiths could accomplish with the highest quality materials money could buy.

But the thing that had unnerved Caroline the most about the man was his [Skills]. While he had an [Appraisal Block], Caroline could still look past it with her [Skill Evaluation] skill. As long as she knew the name of the skill she was looking for, she could tell what level someone had in that skill, even if they were using an [Appraisal Block].

When Merlin had first shown up, she had been convinced he was trying to pass someone else's work off as his own, because he only had a [Blacksmithing] skill of Lv2. They bought the weapons he was selling for a quarter of their market value, after checking to make sure they weren't stolen, and then let him go. She had honestly thought they were never see the man again.

But the very next day, he came back with even more equipment, and Caroline's jaw almost dropped as his [Blacksmithing] skill had increased from Lv2 to Lv7 seemingly overnight. After selling more of his weapons, he started to buy all the scrap Magic Stones they had, for triple their normal price, saying that he would buy more for the same if then could find them.

While he didn't come by every day, when he did, it was always the same. His level would be higher than before, he would be selling them extraordinarily good equipment for far less than its market value, and then he would use the money to buy whatever they had on hand, including Magic Stones, monster materials and metals ranging from high quality mithril bars to scrap iron.

After just 10 days, he had sold to them over 4 billion gorudos worth of items for around 200 million gorudos, and he had gone from a [Blacksmithing] Lv2 to a [Magic Blacksmithing] Lv6. He was just one level behind Gallus himself. It was completely unnatural!

His actions had nearly caused the entire market to turn on its head as he bought raw materials for far too much money and sold final products for too little. Several other Blacksmiths were complaining that there was no way they could compete. It wasn't just that his equipment was of a higher quality, he seemed to work at a speed faster than ten dwarves put together.

He had also somehow managed to buy nearly all of the scrap magic stones in the area, causing the city to start having shortages problems. She didn't even know what he was doing with that crap. Scrap stones weren't as cheap as they were because of their abundance, but rather because they didn't have any use besides being cheap fuel. And yet Merlin just kept buying as much of it as he could for seemingly no reason. It wasn't going into his weapons, and it was far more than he needed to operate the smithing equipment. He had bought enough of the stuff to keep every forge in the city going for a month.

The guy just didn't make sense.

Merlin ended up having to convince the ladies from the Adventurer's Guild that he was completely serious that they could have the equipment. He even told them they could sell it and buy lower quality equipment if they really felt it was for the best. Caroline couldn't blame them for being in a daze. The entire thing was just so ridiculous.

"Before I go, do you know if anyone manage to find one?" Merlin asked Caroline, sounding hopeful.

The woman sighed. "Sorry. The Doppel Snake is a rare species. Some people even doubted its existence. It doesn't matter how much you offer people for its Magic Stone, it's going to take time."

"I suppose your right." Merlin said with a sigh.

"You are looking for a Doppel Snake's Magic Stone?" Nell asked, as the other two started to organize the crate of equipment to be moved.

"Yes. I got my hands on one a little while back, and got some very interesting results out of it. I've been trying to buy one so that I can try to recreate the same results, but it didn't seem like anyone is selling them." Merlin said, scratching his head. "Maybe I should just go back to the Demon Wolf Plains and see if I can't find another snake myself."

"What!? You were in the Demon Wolf Planes!?" Nell shouted in surprise.

"When!? Why!?" Caroline added her own voice to the shouting as she resisted the urge to try to strangle the idiot.

"Huh? I sort of lost my way, and ended up passing through it almost two months ago." Merlin said, seeming surprised by their reaction. "Why, is there something wrong?"

"Merlin! That place is an A-rank haunt! It's one of the most dangerous places in the world! How could you be so stupid as to walk straight through it!?"

"I think you're exaggerating a little there. Sure there were a few C-rank Demonic Beasts, but the place wasn't that dangerous." Merlin said, causing the women to stare at him with disbelief.

"Well, at least he wasn't there when the place started to act up." Nell said with a sigh.

"Act up?" Merlin said, perking up a little.

"That's right. About a month ago, were started getting unusual magic signal from that place, suggesting that B and even an A-rank Demonic Beast might be emerging." Nell explained "The Adventurer's Guild sent almost all of our best men out to help bring the sudden emergence under control. We've gotten word that the A-rank Demonic Beast has been dealt with, but there are still several B-rank Demonic Beasts in that area."

"Is that so. Sounds like I got lucky and managed to avoid that mess." Merlin said, though he had a bit of a far off impression as he said it. Then he blinked himself awake. "Ah, that's right. I've got to go and check on the Merchants Guild, see if they had my orders in. I'll see you around, Miss Caroline."

And with that he left, leaving the receptionist with an uneasy feeling. "That idiot."

* * *

Archer checked around town, looking for news and anything of value he might need. This ended up with him meeting with the receptionists of the Merchant's Guild, and getting himself entangled in an incident involving a young lady being robbed, after which he let the Doppelganger dissolve and returning his full attention to his sword body.

"Hey mom, welcome back." "Welcome home." Art and Fran greeted him as they sensed his consciousness returning. His sword body was leaning against the wall near the entrance of the small house that Archer had bought for them using the money he had made as a Blacksmith. With swords being one of the main tools of defense in this world, Archer found himself making a surprising amount of money selling what he considered to be his failures.

Having their own place became a necessity, as Archer needed full access to a kitchen in order to prepare enough food to keep the two girls satisfied, and he didn't have unlimited access at the inn.

[Hm, you two seem to have had some fun today.] Archer said as he observed the two. [Where did you find those clothes?]

"Do you like them? After we finished our job early, we decided to have some fun and went shopping. There was this fun clothing store near the creek side which sold costume pajamas." Art said as she grabbed Fran and pulled her forward her forward in order to show her off. "It's she just the cutest?"

"I'm a cat." Fran said as she lifted up padded paw like hands. She was dressed in black cat themed pajamas with Art's being themed after a red cartoon devil.

[They are very cute.] Archer chuckled, using his telekinesis to pat the two girls' heads. Though he couldn't help but wonder why a world like this had that kind of stuff.

Archer then listened as they told him about that day's job, which had involved checking out a poison bog for possible Demonic Beasts, and either report back on or eliminate them. The entire thing was supposed to take days, but Fran had the brilliant idea to simply absorb the entire swamp into their [Dimensional Storage] so that they could see whatever was hiding down there. They were apparently paid extra for helping to get rid of the poisonous mess, since the main goal was to try to reclaim that land.

Then, with their job complete, they turned around and headed back to town, before going on a shopping trip. Archer was glad that the two of them were having fun, but after switching on his [Appraisal] skill, he found that neither girl had gained a level, even after killing two dozen of the E-rank Demonic Beasts that had been in the swamp.

It seemed that Art took more experience than a human to grow her first level, and even after getting enough EXP for a normal person to grow their first ten, she was still stuck at level 1. While Fran's level had grown rapidly before because of the Demon and Dragon, her growth had come to a stop ever since. It was likely that they would need to face stronger opponents, or extremely large numbers, if they wanted to see any growth at all.

[...What in the world?] Archer said as he noticed something new in Fran's status page. [...What exactly did the two of you do after you got back to town?]

"Huh? Well, nothing much. We just want to a few food stands and… hey, wait a second! Are you assuming that we were causing some kind of trouble, just because you weren't paying attention!?" Art shouted indignantly. "I'll have you know that we didn't cause any more trouble than normal!"

"They started it." Fran added.

[That's not what I...You know what, forget I said anything.] Archer said with a sigh. [I want the two of you to be prepared to leave for a few days starting tomorrow. The three of us are going to be heading over to a local Haunt where some B-rank Demonic Beasts have been sighted.]

"B-rank?" Fran said, perking up.

"Finally, some real action!" Art cheered.

[Don't get cocky. We will remain hidden to observe and plan each encounter before we strike, and if I say something it too risky, then you will both listen, understood?]

"Yes." "Yes, mom." Fran and Art said together.

[Good, now, what do you want for dinner?]

""Curry.""

[Of course.] Archer said with a mental shake of the head before floating towards the kitchen. But as he went, he glanced again at Fran's status page, and at her unusual new title.

(Title: Lady Killer | Awarded to one who can steal the hearts of five or more women in a single day with nothing more than a winning smile. | Effect: Improves first impressions when the other party is female. Decreases the barrier to making women fall in love.)

Fran… what exactly were you doing?

* * *

**So Archer is trying to get his hands on another Doppel Snake so that he could get another [Body Split] slotable skill, so that he could use his [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] more freely without worrying that he is sacrificing his own trump card.**

* * *

**Since actions preformed by Archer reflect in Fran's titles, Archer's natural charms have caused Fran to earn the 'Lady Killer' title. But Archer didn't realize he was making girls fall in love with him, so he assumes that Art and Fran were doing something weird. **


	20. Chapter 20

Amanda moved alone through the thicker trees at the edge of the Demon Wolf Plains, following the trail left by one of the recently emerged B-rank Demonic Beasts. The tracking wasn't hard, as the creature was so large as to leave an easily followed trail behind it, and Amanda's high level [Magic Detection] skill had already recognized what kind of Demonic Beast it was.

A B-rank Colossal Giant.

With its thick skin, massive size and high speed regeneration, the B-rank Colossal Giant was easily a force capable of wiping out a large city full of people. Even B-rank Adventurer's would struggle to do any meaningful damage to it, even if they could identity its weaknesses. It was only its extremely low intelligence and like of grace in combat that prevented it from being considered an A rank threat.

To most people, hunting such a monster alone was suicide. But Amanda had done it before. She had almost always hunted alone as an A-rank solo Adventurer. A brainless brute like this wasn't even a challenge to her.

Still, she needed to deal with it before it came across any of her Guildmates, as even the B-rank teams would have trouble either fighting or fleeing from this monster.

However, as she drew nearer to her query, the sudden sounds of a battle erupted from up ahead.

Fearing the worst, Amanda called upon her [Storm Magic], [Physical Amplification] and her [Instantaneous Movement] skills to rush forward at speeds comparable to a Demonic Beast with over 1500 AGL, showing why people called A-rank Adventurer's simply inhuman.

Jumping up high into the air, in order to get a quick view of what was going on, Amanda managed to spot the massive creature, its monstrous twisted form made even more grotesque by its lack of clothing. Despite the slightly human-like bone structure of the beast, it lunged about on all fours with its entire body, in a manner that was unnatural even among animals, tearing up trees as it swung out its huge arms at whatever must have been its target.

Amanda's heart sank, hoping that it was only attacking another Demonic Beast, and not a human being, when her 'Guardian of Children' title triggered… informing her that there were children in that direction.

If she had been moving before, now she really started to leg it, ignoring safely limits and the possible drain on her MP. With 'Guardian of Children' activated, her physical attributes and MP regeneration both increased, allowing her to kick it up a notch.

But before she was more than two thirds there way there, something flew up out of the trees. A young girl with dark blue hair, seeming to fly unassisted, going straight towards the sky.

The giant pulled itself up onto its back legs, lunging up after the child, hands outstretched in order to grab them. But as it got closer, the child simply vanished into thin air, leaving the Demonic Beast grasping at nothing.

Then something happened that nearly made Amanda stumble in her run.

A small child, a Black Catkin jumped up from the tree line, performing multiple [Air Jumps] in order to get up to the monster's neck. And as the creature was half suspended in the air, unable to flail and tumble around to guard its weak point, the child swung a sword as large as she was, covered in the fire of an [Elemental Weapon] skill. The blade easily passing through the monster's spinal cord, burning the flesh to stop it from regenerating.

The beast's movements stopped, its arms and legs going slack, and then it fell to the ground with a thud that shook the earth. 'Guardian of Children' deactivated as the children were no longer in any danger. Amanda wondered if they were ever in any danger to begin with. Shock and curiosity slowed her step, and she triggered her [Presence Concealment] in order to draw closer and see the children that had just managed to pull off a kill that most B-rank Adventurer's would struggle with.

With how high her [Presence Concealment] was, it was easy for her to get to the edge of the cleared forest to get a good look at the two little girls as they stood over their kill.

The first child, the one with blue hair, looked to be a human girl, around 15 years old. But as she watched her, Amanda realized with a shock that her "Demon Slayer" title was informing her that the girl was only a child, but also a Demon. Easily a C-rank Demonic Beast, she was dressed in high-quality light armor and had a sword that was as black as night in her hand which was give off strong demonic energy. Amanda had never met a Demon that was so childish in both body and spirit as to earn the label of 'child' from her 'Guardian of Children' title.

However, if this girl was surprising, the other child made Amanda's heart stop. As the Black Catkin girl stood upon her kill and swung her sword so fast that the blood stuck to its surface went flying off, Amanda got a good look at her face.

"Framia?" Amanda mumbled in shock. It looked just like her. Just like the little girl who she had once tried to raise from near enough to birth as if she was her own child, the girl who had ran away from the orphanage those twenty years ago. A tight knot formed in the woman's throat as the memories came back, as she knew that this was not Framia. Not only was Framia no longer a child, she was no longer alive. Neither her, or her husband Kinan, or their child…

"Way to go Fran!"

* * *

"Way to go Fran! You took down that oversized freak with one hit!" Art cheered as she ran towards the beastkin girl.

"Nn. Art's illusion made it easy." Fran said a small smile on her face as the two gave each other high fives.

[You both did well.] Archer congratulated them. The monster they had taken down was strong and dangerous, but they had effectively controlled its movement and attacked its weakness when it was most vulnerable. While the monster had stats significantly higher than the B-rank Demon they had faced, its low [Skills] made it simple to deal with, but Archer would allow the two a certain amount of pride in their accomplishment.

They had been hunting in the Demon Wolf Plains for nearly a full day, having arrived midday before, and in that time they had managed to hunt down two B-rank and twelve C-rank Demonic Beasts, as well as hundreds of lower rank monsters.

Fran had grown from level 33 to level 35, and with that last kill, Art had grown to level 4. It was as Archer had thought, the benefits given by hunting stronger monsters made dealing with the lesser creatures nothing more than a waste of time and energy.

"So, what do you think this thing tastes like?" Art asked as she looked up and down the fifty foot tall giant. "Looks kind of stringy. Maybe chicken-like?"

"Nn, don't know." Fran admitted.

[I'm not sure if we are going to be cooking this one.] Archer said. His dismissal of the idea didn't come from any amount of disgust at the idea of its somewhat humanish appearance, but rather because it wasn't good for Art's high-stats diet. [While it has high stats, the stat-per-pound ration is too low for it to be useful for your [Predation Absorption] skill. Even in its major organs, the concentration of magic is too low.]

"I guess you're right." Art said with a shrug.

As long as it tasted good, Art had no qualms about eating anything, in fact, the more magical energy in the meal the better, as far as she was concerned. Archer had been a little taken aback when she had requested he cook the B-rank Demon's heart for her… that was cannibalism. Though thinking back to the Demon himself, the guy probably wouldn't have minded the idea of being eaten to raise another's stats. It wasn't as if Archer wasn't already using his bones and hide to make the girl's equipment. Just like using a Magic Stone from the same race as the monster materials could have an effect on the equipment, Art's own power synergized with items made from the other Demon, increasing their effectiveness by an entire rank.

Besides, the effects of [Predation Absorption] were to important to ignore.

Just like humans, Demon Beasts only gain 1 or 2 to each of their base stats each time they level up, perhaps 3 if they are specialized, so most of their growth occurred when they Evolved to the next rank when they reached their max level. However, after eating a good 25% of the Moonlight Dragon meat and the Demon's heart, Art's stats had increased by nearly 30 points, an absolutely insane growth for a single week of eating, surpassing the stats she gained from the [Christening]. If she kept it up, she would have stats equal to the B-rank Demon's in a little more than six months, without considering her stat gains from level ups and while still technically being a C-rank Demon. Her prospects for if she ever reached the A-rank stages of her life cycle were absolutely insane.

Likewise, Fran was steady growing as her 'Magus Killer' job started to bare fruit. With a current job level of 27, it was providing her with +26 STR, AGL and MAG. She had also gained two new titles, including the one she just got from the giant they had just killed; Giant Slayer and Annihilator of Demonic Beasts.

(Title: Giant Slayer | Awarded to one who has slain a giant. | Effect: Increased damage to giants.)

(Title: Annihilator of Demonic Beasts | Awarded to one who has slain over 1000 Demonic Beasts of over 100 subspecies. | Effect: Increase stats when fighting against Demonic Beasts. The increase is proportional to the strength and number of the Demonic Beasts.)

The number of Demonic Beasts needed to unlock the 'Annihilator of Demonic Beasts' title had been met back in the dungeon when Fran was farming the Army Beetles, though satisfying the number of subspecies requirement was actually harder than it sounded, as most locations only had a few types of Demonic Beasts, even dungeons were known to have no more than ten or so subspecies. However, high rank Haunts, like the Demon Wolf Plains, had a much better variety of Demonic Beasts, and with Fran killing every type of monster they came across looking for rare skills, or just absorbing their Magic Stone Points, she quickly reached the 100 mark.

It was a valuable skill, something that might come in handy in the future, if they ever find themselves fighting an entire stampede again.

"Alright, let's go track down our next target!" Art said, throwing up a fist into the air.

"Nn!" Fran readily agreed, mimicking the action.

Archer chuckled at the display, before he noticed the presence of an unfamiliar weapon nearby. [Be on guard. Someone is watching us.]

The two girls stiffened before Fran quickly opened up the [Dimensional Storage], shoving the entire giant into it all at once, letting her and Art drop gracefully to the ground below.

"Know you're there. Come out." Fran said as she lifted Archer.

[...Fran, that his not the proper way to deal with an unknown stalker.] Archer said, as Fran called out whoever it was that was watching them.

(Isn't?) Fran asked.

[No. Allowing them to know that you have spotted them will put them on guard and limits the chance for luring out a poorly prepared ambush. They might even retreat, losing you your chance to confront them.] Archer said.

(Seemed like calling them out worked to me.) Art commented, as a young black haired woman walked out from the treeline.

She appeared to be in her late twenties, perhaps early thirties. With her mature body, and long dark hair, she was what many would call a traditional japanese beauty, though her long ears betrayed her elvish heritage. Her weapon, a whip on her belt, was made from a Sky Dragon's whisker, and Archer's perception told him that the woman had killed the A-rank dragon in question by herself. She wore a one piece full body leather armor under a cloak made from monster materials, and her hair was held back behind her ear with an ornament made from a Thunderbird's feathers.

Even before using his Appraisal, just from watching the way the woman moved, Archer could tell this wasn't an opponent Fran and Art were ready for. Luckily, if her stats sheet wasn't lying, they won't have to.

* * *

Name: Amanda

Age: 58

Race: Half-Elf

Job: Champion of Storms

Status: Normal

Level: 70/99

HP: 646, MP: 825, STR: 327, END: 293, AGI: 451, INT: 390, MGC: 423, DEX: 356

Skills: Coercion Lv7, Chant Shortening Lv6, Presence Concealment Lv8, Dismantling Lv8, Fire Resistance Lv6, Hand-to-Hand Techniques Lv4, Hand-to-Hand Arts Lv7, Wind Magic LvMax, Danger Perception Lv9, Presence Perception Lv8, Herculean Strength Lv5, Mining Lv7, Harvesting Lv8, Instantaneous Movement Lv7, Flash Step LvMax, Exhaustion Resistance Lv6, Elemental Weapon Lv7, Throwing Lv8, Poison Resistance Lv6, Cold Resistance Lv5, Whip Techniques LvMax, Divine Whip Techniques Lv2, Whip Arts LvMax, Divine Whip Arts Lv4, Storm Magic Lv4, Paralysis Resistance Lv8, Magic Perception Lv5, Lightning Resistance Lv7, Vigor Manipulation, Physical Amplification, AGI ↑ High, Storm Amplification, Magic Manipulation

Unique Skills: Grace of the Spirits

Titles: Orc Slayer, Guardian of Children, Giant Slayer, Dungeon Conqueror, Demon Slayer, Dragon Slayer, Personification of a Gale, Wind Mage, Annihilator of Demonic Beasts, Rank A Adventurer

Equipment: Magical Whip of the Sky Dragon's Whiskers, Full-Body Leather Armor of the Old Multi-Headed Snake, Overcoat of the Poisonous Lizard Demon, Shoes of the Sovereign Bull Demon, Heavenly Ring of Sacrifice, Ornament of the Thunderbird's Plumes, Ring of bulwark, Feathered Throwing Knives of the Paralysis Owl ×24

* * *

[Lower your weapons and do not provoke her. She's the Guild's A-rank, so she shouldn't be an enemy.] Archer advised Fran and Art, even as he prepared his own weapons and [Skills] in case of danger.

It was worse that Archer had feared. Though their levels were close together, this woman was far stronger than the guild master, both in raw stats and in technique, and on top of that, her high [Magic Perception], [Fire Resistance], and [Lightning Resistance] meant she would be next to immune to most of the two girl's basic spells, while her physical skills and attributes were high enough that Archer doubted that Fran and Art could take her close-quarters, even if they worked together.

Fran did as she was told, putting Archer back away on her back, though she too had [Skills] primed and back up weapons kept in the [Dimensional Storage] at the ready, while Art prepared her own spells.

"I'm impressed, most people wouldn't be able to see through my [Presence Concealment]. You two are very special girls, aren't you?" Amanda said as she approached them.

"Hiding: why?"

"Just out of curiosity. I wanted to have a chance to see who had taken down the giant." The woman said with a light smile. "She said your name was Fran, right?"

"...Nn. D-rank Adventurer, Fran." Fran said, introducing herself. "Who are you."

"Me? I'm…" The woman moved with a speed beyond human capabilities, so fast as to even catch Archer off guard, as he had sensed no ill-intent at all. Amanda closed the distance between herself and Fran in the blink of an eye before throwing her arms around Fran, drawing her into a bear hug. But this wasn't an attack, at least not a traditional one as she pulled Fran head into her chest and squealed. "I'm your mother!"

Archer and Art were both too stunned to move as Fran was lifted clean off the ground by the strange woman. "Let go." Fran growled, struggling to free herself from the woman's grip.

"Maybe I will, if you call me mama."

"No!"

"Hey, don't be like that. Let me give you a kiss on the cheek."

[...Fucking Lady Killer title.] Where the first words to pass through Archer's mind as he tried to process what was going on.

"Hey! Let go of here you crazy lady!" Art shouted, jumping into act and grabbing the woman's arm, trying with all her strength to help pry the arm off. But the woman's grip wouldn't let up at all. "Fucking hell! What is with this lady's strength!?"

Even with Fran and Art putting their strengths together, the A-rank Adventurer was too strong.

(Archer! Help!) Fran cried out in desperation as she struggled to keep her face away from the woman's lips.

[Right. Art, using your [Solar Flare] spell. Fran, get ready to give it everything you got.]

(Nn!) (Right!)

Art jumped back behind Fran, holding up her hand to point at the woman's face. "[Solar Flare]!" Her palm exploded into light, too bright to be blocked out by mere eyelids, blinding the woman who had Fran in her grasp.

At the moment of the flash, Fran and Archer gave it everything they got, triggering [Support Magic], [Herculean Strength], and [Combat Qigong] in order to push Fran's body as far as it was safe to push it.

Even this wasn't enough to fully break the woman's grip, but it did weaken it enough for Fran to slide a bit downwards, until her feet touched the ground. "~Pass unseen among the shifting shadows. [Dark Traversal]."

Fran's body melted into the shadows on the ground, letting her slip out of the woman's grip and move over to the treeline where Art was already running too.

Both girls started to run as fast as they could as they heard the woman's voice behind them. "Hey, wait!"

[Mountain Peak!] Archer cast the first level of [Mountain Magic] causing a massive spike, nearly twice as tall as the giant had been to suddenly jut upwards out of the ground between them and the crazy woman, momentarily hulting her process.

But only momentarily, as ten seconds after the stone obstruction appeared, it promptly exploded.

"What the crap!?" Art shouted as as bits of rock were sent flying all directions.

[Keep running. I'll hold her off.] Archer said as he triggered his trump card. [[Doppelganger Synthesis SP].]

([Doppelganger Synthesis SP] parameters set: single duplicate of 120% strength, 10 minute duration. Cooldown: 1 hour)

* * *

**I'm using the Manga's version of Amanda, which is different from the WN version, as in the WN, Amanda only went full clingy mode whenever she was drunk or Fran was leaving town, at all other times she was more of the cool, if slightly over protective, older sister figure. **

**It is hinted at that Amanda might view her 'Guardian of Children' title as a mockery. That the gods gave it to her as an eternal reminder of what she is not. This is shown by her not wanting people to talk about the title, and how she blames herself for being cruel to Fran's parents, saying that their deaths were her fault.**


	21. Chapter 21

Godmother.

Amanda had meant to say godmother, but she had been so excited to having found Fran that her words got screwed up, and she had acted like an idiot.

She just couldn't help herself. Fran was so cute, and looked just like her mother had when she was her age. Years of pent up emotions over what had occurred between her and Framia and Kinan had spilt over at the sight of the lost daughter, the one that Amanda herself has assumed to have died with her parents. If she had known that Fran had been alive, nothing, not even the [Oath Magic] she had bond herself with would have stop her from finding the girl.

Now the two children were running away from her, running at full speed through an incredibly dangerous area. She had to stop them. She had to protect them. To take them out of this place, to where it was safe.

They had a head start, but there were few even among A-rank Adventurers who could match Amanda's level of speed.

But that was only if she could maintain her full speed, something she was forced to abandon as her [Danger Perception] skill kicked in, screaming at her to dodge. She only managed to narrowly avoid being hit by a long black bolt that slammed into the ground, right in the path she had been running in.

It was the first of many, as arrow after arrow came from the trees, flying for Amanda, perfectly predicting her movements, forcing her to break her chase and use her whip to defend herself. "[Wind Wall]!" Amanda shouted, calling up a curtain of wind to deflect the oncoming projectiles. "Why is someone shooting at me?"

Before she could even begin to ponder this question, her [Danger Perception] kicked in again and she leaped aside as an arrow managed to read the wind and use it to redirect itself at her. It was an insane trick shot, which could only mean that the one firing at her had reached the Divine level of Bow Arts. Had a Demonic Beast so skilled with a bow managed to appear?

This was dangerous. If the sniper changed their target to this children…

Amanda changed direction and started to make for the place where the arrows were coming from, all the while trying to deflect more of incredibly high speed projectiles.

She was closing the distance, and could just start to sense the individual who was firing at her when a dark, formless mass of magical energy came pouring out from the trees in all directions.

It was such a rare spell, that it took Amanda a moment to recognize it; [Darkest Veil]. The [Darkness Magic] version of the [Dark Magic] spell [Black Veil]. While [Black Veil] covers the eyes of the enemy in shadows, robbing them of sight, [Darkest Veil] spread shadows over everything, robbing the sight of every creature that came into range.

The reason the spell was so rarely used was because it affected everything, including the caster. So to use it was to rob yourself of you most basic of senses. On top of that, the spell had a high maintenance cost, not just in MP, but also in concentration. And if your opponent had high perception skills, it would all be for not anyways.

With Lv8 [Presence Perception], Lv9 [Danger Perception] and Lv5 [Magic Perception], Amanda found the spell to be little more than annoyance, as she quickly identified the source of the attacks. The figure didn't bother to hide, perhaps believing that the darkness protected it, but Amanda couldn't help but to freeze up as her perception skills started to feed back information.

The attacker was small, and had a humanoid shape to it, almost like a child, though Amanda's [Guardian of Children] title informed her that what was standing there was definitely NOT a child. As for what it was, Amanda wasn't sure at first.

Before, she had believed it to be a humanoid Demonic Beast, one capable of using a bow with an extremely high level of skill, such as a Valkyrie. But even as Amanda had gotten close to them, her [Annihilator of Demonic Beasts] title didn't trigger, meaning that they were not a Demonic Beast. But they weren't human either.

Their body glowed in Amanda's [Magic Perception] as their entire being was made from pure magical energy, as was the bow that they had in their hand. They were definitely not a human, and they were not a Demonic Beast. This only left one option; a spirit. And not just any spirit. Only a supreme level spirit could take on a human form, and with the spell it had just used, there was only one it could be.

"You're Umbra, the Supreme Spirit of Darkness, aren't you?" Amanda said, more surprised than afraid. Supreme Spirits might be considered beings on the level of some A-rank Demonic Beasts, but Amanda felt as though this one wasn't at it's full strength.

The spirit did not reply. It only stood there, watching Amanda in the darkness.

"May I ask why is it that you were trying to kill me?" Amanda asked, hiding her annoyance. She would admit she was used to the way people normally treated A-rank Adventurers and she wasn't often ignored, or attacked. Though she supposed since most spirits couldn't use human speech, she was probably just wasting her...

[Don't be so dramatic. Even if those shots had hit you, you wouldn't have died. Your [Grace of the Spirits] skill wouldn't have failed against such a weak attack.] The spirit replied with telepathy, his voice sounding like that of a full grown man, despite the small stature of his body. [As for why I was attacking you, you were chasing after a pair of children after attempting to molest one of them. What kind of responsible adult would I be if I simply watched and did nothing as you captured them?]

Amanda blinked in surprise. The only spirit she had ever heard speak so fluently was Tarua, Frion's Guardian Spirit. She was so surprised that it took a moment for his words to sink in. "I...I wasn't molesting her!" Amanda shouted indignantly. "How could you even suggest such a thing! If you know about my [Grace of the Spirits] skill, then you must know that I have the [Guardian of Children] title as well!"

Yes Nell said she could be a little… embracive at times with the people she was fond of, but she would never lay hands on a child!

[The system that the gods set up to distribute their titles is flawed, easy to trick and abuse. I will judge what I saw with my own eyes over your title.] The spirit said, completely dismissive of Amanda's defense. Amanda winced as the spirit casually confirmed her own secret suspicious. [Regardless of your lack of ill intentions, you have clearly lost your self-control. By the way, you have a bit of drool on your chin.]

"Huh?" Amanda said, her free hand coming up to her face. Sure enough, there was drool there. When had that happened?

[Leave the children be, and regain your self-control.] The spirit ordered her.

"You want me to just leave those two alone out here!? This place is dangerous!"

[They will be fine. You need to go.]

"I am not leaving them alone out here!"

[And I will not let you pursue them. Leave.]

Amanda didn't have time for this. With every moment that passed Framia and Kinan's daughter got further and further away from her protective care. She had to hurry. She couldn't let anything happen to that sweet little girl. She couldn't live with herself if something happened to Fran as well.

The woman's frustration boiled over. She didn't care if he was a Supreme spirit, nothing would stop her from protecting Fran!

The moment Amanda started to move her feet, Umbra reacted. The bow dissolved back into magic to be replaced with a pair of blades as the dark spirit moved in to confront the whip master.

Amanda swung her whip, putting enough force behind her swing to tear through the trees that were hidden in the shadows, she channeled her mana into the cable to make it grow in length and reach. At first, she thought that the spirit must not be familiar with human weapon combat, as he blocked the body of her whip, causing the weighted head to come around with enough force to smash a boulder in two. But before the tip could hit its mark, Umbra's second blade flew up, catching the deadly tip mid flight and knocking it up and over his head, letting the momentum move the whips body out of the way so that he could charge forward.

He crossed his arms before throwing the conjured weapons at Amanda, who countered with [Storm Surge], blowing the attack off course.

Using her [Divine Whip Technique] Amanda took complete control over the whip's body and started to have it twist back around like a snake, rearing up, ready to strike at Umbra's back before casting a second [Storm Surge], this one aimed offensively at the spirit, in order to knock him off balance as she struck.

But the spirit wasn't caught off guard, summoning up another pair of magic constructed swords, holding them out to act like wings, using Amanda's own wind to help blow him out of the way of her attack, before spinning around and slamming the long body of her whip with the pair of blades.

The whip shook from the force, causing Amanda to lose control over it for a moment, giving Umbra enough time to close the rest of the distance between them.

If he was expecting an easily close-quarters fight, he was mistaken, as Amanda activated her [Herculean Strength], [Physical Amplification] skills to enhance her physical strength before using [Elemental Weapon] to shape storm attributed mana around her arm, in the shape of a blade.

She parried one of his slashes with the handle of her whip, while using her own free hand to strike out, forcing him to guard. The hit was strong enough to blast the spirit backwards.

Umbra spun around in the air, using his weapons to control his movements mid flight before stabbing one of them into the ground, using it to burn off his momentum. He didn't even bother to retrieve the buried weapon from the ground, merely making another to replace it.

Was this one of Umbra's abilities? Even though she was of the Elvish heritage, Amanda hadn't inherited the [Blessing of the Spirits] trait and had no talent for [Spirit Magic], so she had never felt the need to research the Supreme Spirits. She knew them by name, same as almost everyone else in the world, but she hadn't memorized their abilities. However, the spirits use of weapons was closer to what she had seen with Forrund and his 'Blessings of the Sword God'.

While his magic energy was only around as power as a C-rank Demonic Beast, his weapon skills were far too high. This couldn't possibly be normal for a spirit.

Well, it didn't matter. Amanda just had to destabilize the body, returning the spirit to its astral form. After that, she would be free to continue without having to worry about him interfering with her any more.

For that reason, Amanda started to channel her storm attribute mana into her whip, increasing its speed and cutting power considerably.

[I won't do that if I were you. You're only going to end up damaging your own weapon.] Umbra said, but Amanda ignored him, this was the only way she could claim an advantage fast enough. She started to use her [Divine Whip Techniques] to straight out at the Spirit of Darkness, her flurry of attacks so fast that even other A-rank Adventurers would be unable to follow them, or dodge.

However, Umbra showed no signs of struggle, as he imbued his weapons with his darkness mana and used them to deflect the whip's straights one after another, never letting a single attack through. This was insane. Spirits weren't supposed to be this skilled in weapon's combat. He was the slipperiest thing that Amanda had ever encountered, but even so, her superior speed meant that even if he found an opening, he wouldn't be able to land a blow.

In terms of magic, his [Darkness Magic] was simple enough for her to dodge, but while her wind spells hit, Umbra would use their force for his own benefit and the damage they dealt was negligible.

Amanda pushed herself as hard as she could, trying to get a solid hit in. But in the end, all it did was drain her faster. Her mana ran dry after five minutes. She would usually have lasted longer, but Umbra's darkness mana [Elemental Weapon] had a mana burn effect with was slowly burning her out.

[You're supposed to be an A-rank Adventurer, but this is the extent of your whip skills? Just [Divine Whip Arts] Lv4.] Umbra said, as if the Divine level of weapon arts weren't insanely difficult to obtain, with only high B and A-rank individuals having them.

Though… it had been over four years since any of Amanda's skills had increased. Not since the news about what had happened to Fran's parents had reached her. That thought stung her heart and pushed her into bringing out a mana potion. Umbra saw this, but didn't seem inclined to stop her.

[Your [Storm Magic] is strong, and you've got a good understanding of how to use it, but if your opponent knows how to take advantage of the shape of the wind, it does you know good. You need to adapt your style around your opponent. Throwing winds at me only gives me the chance to use them to my advantage. You're using your [Chant Shortening] skill to let you cast your spells quickly, but because of that, they lose their complexity.]

Amanda paused at his lecturing. Part of her felt indignant by it, considering how even they were. However, he did have a point. Rather than blasting him head on, she needed to approach this from a different angle. Beginning her chant, she cast a different spell; [Control Wind].

Using her concentration, she shaped the flow of air in order to create a low pressure zone around Umbra. The effect was much weaker than just throwing a large amount of air at him, but the effect of it was to create a suction effect, dragging him up, instead of pushing him.

The moment he started to become airborne, she struck, swinging her whip around to attack him from below, where it would be the hardest to block… Only for a sword to appear under his feet, giving him a platform to kick off of and dodge her attack.

[That was better. Now you just need to think another five moves ahead and you'll get me.] Amanda's cheeks burned as he chuckled at her. [Your control over the wind is too uniform. Think of the wind like ripples in the water. Two different waves can occupy the same space at once. Add several separate waves in order to make your attack more chaotic and more difficult to read.]

"I don't have the [Split Thought] skill." Amanda reminded him, since he had had a high level [Appraisal] skill anyways.

[Then be creative. Don't just use spells with immediate effects but also delayed and longer lasting effects.] Umbra chastised her.

"...Got it." Amanda said as she came up with the right spells. She began to strafe around him and started to cast her spells. She fired off [Gust of Wind], a level 4 [Wind Magic Spill], again and again as she went, using different levels of strength and focus. By doing so, she created magic circles that would release a strong wind in the direction of her choosing for up to one minute, causing a massive number of different wind streams.

While the spell itself was too weak to be effective in a battle like this one, but it could be just what she needed to get around Umbra's unnaturally accurate predictions. This time, when she stopped to place her [Control Wind] over the entire system, it created a maze of wind currents around her target.

At first, it seemed like it was working, the maze of air currents keeping Umbra off balance as Amanda attacked him rapidly with her whip. However, just as she was about to score her hit, he pulled it out from under her. [[Control Wind].]

His spell was far weaker than hers, but it was enough to disrupt her own spell around him, letting him reclaim his balance in order to block the oncoming attack, using its momentum to throw him clear through the walls of wind around him.

[Not bad. You nearly got me with that one.] The spirit teased.

"You can use [Wind Magic]!?" Amanda shouted in shock.

[Whoever said I couldn't?]

"But you're the Spirit of Darkness. Why can the Spirit of Darkness call upon the wind?"

[I never said I was the Spirit of Darkness. You just made assumptions.]

"That's… But, you are a Spirit, you have a humanoid form, and you can use [Darkness Magic]."

[...That is all correct, in a sense.] The Spirit who was not Umbra confirmed. [However, I am only 50 years old, making me little more than an infant by the standards of my kind. So I am not a famous name. In fact, I don't have a name at all. I am a Nameless Spirit.]

A new Supreme Class spirit? Was that even possible? Wait as second... 50!? He was even younger than she was!

[Looks like this temporary body is about to have ran its course, and Fran and Art are already far outside of your reach. How about we call it quits for today.] Nameless said as his magic body started to destabilize.

"Huh!?" Amanda exclaimed, realizing that he was right, and that there was no way she would be able to track them now. "Oh no! What if they got lost! Or a Demonic Beast attacks them! Or..."

[Calm down. They're fine. They've already left the boundaries of the Haunt. Besides, they aren't so weak as to be beaten easily.] The Nameless Spirit said with a low chuckle. [It was fun, Miss A-rank Adventurer. Keep training, and maybe you will even be able to beat me next time around.]

And with that, the spirit vanished, and soon the [Darkest Veil] began to clear, revealing Amanda, the completely decimated landscape around her.

"Miss Amanda!" Cruz, the leader of one of the C-rank teams that came to the Haunt with them in order to gain experience, said as he and his party approached. "We saw the dark cloud and heard signs of battle from far off, but we didn't dare entire. Are you alright? What happened?"

"Fran..." Amanda mumbled, ignoring the young man, her shoulders falling. She couldn't believe it. Their daughter was alive and well. She had been there, right in front of Amanda, but now she was gone again. She had already left the Haunt and was probably on her way to the nearest… "I'm going back to Aressa!" Amanda declared, straightening up.

"What!? But Miss, we can't leave. Not until we've taken care of the unusual emergence...s..." Cruz's voice dead as he had to stop himself from shitting his pants, his [Malice Detection] skill going crazy as the woman practically glowed with killing intent.

"Those worthless Demonic Beasts, getting in my way." Amanda said, her grin downright terrifying. "No matter, I'll just have to kill them all quickly."

"...Ah… yeah."

* * *

Archer had been glad for the cover given by the darkness. It had only been meant to prevent the woman from seeing his borrowed form, but it had also hid from her how much damage she was actually doing.

She was no push over, and Archer had been forced to heal himself multiple times to mend broken bones and dislocated arms, from the force of her attacks. If she had been fighting against the Demon from the Dungeon, she would have completely dismantled him in seconds. As it was, Archer's superior skill when it came to weapon's combat kept him afloat.

She had been physically stronger than her stats had suggested, however, her level of artistry with her weapon of choice wasn't too much greater than Fran's. It appeared that she was more of an assassin, depending on stealth and high speed strikes to finish off enemies, or using her wind magic to keep them off guard. Against larger targets, her massive wind spells could be used to great effect, holding them completely in place as she ripped them apart. Fighting Archer head on, she was out of her element and against a much different type of opponent than she was used to.

She was completely self-taught, and while her level of skill and strength for being as such was impressive, it did leave her with flaws that a learned master would have been able to point out or take advantage of.

All in all, she stronger enough than Fran and Art to make a good sparring partner for them, and she might learn a bit out of it as well... As soon as she could gain some self-control, and stopped seeing them as being just little girls.

* * *

**Just so you know, Lady Killer is a real title in that world. I didn't just make it up.**


	22. Chapter 22

([Doppelganger Synthesis SP] parameters set: five duplicate of 80% strength, 4 hour duration. Cooldown: 40 hours)

Archer was in Gallus's forge again, this time with his own sword body and five duplicates of it, and all of them focusing on the same task. It had been three hours since he had started his latest project and the blades were nearly complete, it was time for the home stretch.

He cut into the Colossal Giant's Magic Stone, absorbing its Magic Stone Points and causing him to grow from Rank 11 to Rank 12.

* * *

Self-Evolving:

(Rank 11 | Memory 100 | Points 61) → (Rank 12 | Magic Stone Value 6658/7800 | Memory 112 | Points 121)

ATK: 572 → 620 MP: 3550 → 4150 Durability: 3350 → 3950 Mana Channel: A+

* * *

The mana pools of all six bodies immediately refreshed to full, giving Archer 20,000 units of Mana to work with, Even more than he had when he was a Servant, which he then spent dumping into the nearly finished blades, saturating them with mana as he strengthened the inherent skills within them.

With any other material, the blades would have immediately shattered, but the Orichalcum alloy, strengthened using some of the bones and teeth of the Moonlight Dragon, part of a Demon's horn, and the nails of a B-rank Earthshaker Mole they had stumbled upon in the Haunt, drank up the mana like a sponge.

The air was almost on fire as Archer shaped the blades to perfection in the heat of the moment. And when he was done, he inspected his creations with interest.

[...Passable.] He said cheekily. If he had lips, he would have smiled.

* * *

The Mirroring Swords - Kuroko and Shiroko

ATK: 1495 MP: 1500 Durability: 9000 Mana Channel: S

Effects: Principle of an Element (Mirror): Lv3, Magic Resistance: Lv6, Attraction, Return, Self-repairing, +20 to all stats

* * *

"They… they're beautiful." Gallus said, seeming prepared to drop to his knees at any moment to begin worship. "Are they… Are they a Godblade?"

Archer almost laughed, though he wasn't too surprised by the dwarf's reaction. He had modeled the swords after the Married Swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, keeping the minimalist beauty of the blades as well as the black and white color scheme. The only difference he made was one he made out of fancy, changing the design of the yin yang symbol to incorporate the silhouette of a cat on each of the blades.

They possessed the same attraction based properties as Kanshou and Bakuya had, but also had some of the Moonlight Dragon's force reflection ability, allowing them to automatically redirect 15% of incoming force, making it much easier to parry blows.

He hadn't really plain a name ahead of time, but the one the Goddess of Chaos choose to bestow upon it worked well enough; Kuroko and Shiroko, meaning black child and white child.

[No. They are good blades, and a good proof of concept, but they aren't a Godblade.] Archer said as his clones dissolved, their job complete. It would be another two days before he could do this again. [Next will be Fran's armor. After that, I'll give making a real Godblade a try.]

"You… you're really going to do it, aren't you. An Intelligent Weapon, making a Godblade. What has this world come to?" Gallus said, running his hand over his face. "Did whatever blacksmith who made you plan on making all other blacksmiths obsolete?"

Archer could only shake his mental head at the man. [Rani, you there?] Archer checked as he had just ranked up once again.

{System 'Rani' is currently operational.} Came the machine-like reply.

[You feeling any better than last time?]

{Change in functionality is currently only marginal. More Magic Stones will be required before this system can overcome the elements suppressing it.}

[Is that so? Well, it will hopefully only be a matter of time then.] Archer said, making a little small talk before diving into his questions. He wasn't sure what Rani was, but she was a resource. [Rani, you seem to be capable of accessing some form of information storage. Does that information storage tell you the requirements for a Black Catkin to evolve?]

Archer had done a small bit of research into the subject of evolution, nothing extensive, but the basic, common knowledge about it is that the Demonic Beast or Beastkin must first reach their current level cap, after which they will evolve, so long as they meet the requirements for doing so. These requirements can be anything from having learned a certain skill, to having obtained a base level of stats.

So far, no one has figured out what the requirements for a Black Catkin's evolution was, meaning that it was probably connected to a rare skill that few could learn. But if they could identify what skill it was, it would only be a matter of finding out which Demonic Beast had said skill.

{Searching… Searching… Information: Blocked.}

[Blocked?] Archer repeated. [Just to clarify, you mean that the information isn't just missing, but that there is something actively blocking you from accessing it, correct?]

{Correct. A higher power is suppressing that information. I can attempt to force access, however, that route has a 99.5% chance of causing critical system damage. Action: not suggested.}

[I see.]

{This system is sorry that it could not be of more help.}

[Don't be. The fact that someone went through all the trouble to block it means that it isn't impossible. That in itself is meaningful information to have.] Archer said.

{...It is entirely possible that as this system gains more functionality, a back door could be found in order to access the locked information.}

[I'll keep that in mind. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about, while you still have the capacity to?]

{Calculating… No items found.}

[Is that so. I suppose I will talk to you again next time I rank up.]

{Yes… until next time.}

* * *

"Black Catkin Evolution: Possible." Fran said, her eyes wide and her tail twitching back and forth after Archer told her what he had discovered.

[Yes, though we still don't know how.]

"Hmm, would be nice to have a little more to go on." Art said as she slouched in her seat. "Yeah, find out it was possible was great but, how are we supposed to try to do it? Collecting all this skills in existence is kind of a long shot." Art stopped when she heard Fran sniffling and saw tears in the quiet girl's eyes. "Hey! I didn't mean it like that! We are totally going to find out how to make you evolve, so don't cry!"

"*Sniff* Not sad." Fran said a small smile on her face. "All this time, wasn't sure. But now know it is possible."

...As determined as she had been, Fran must have always harbored the fear that she would never evolve, that it was actually impossible. That all her efforts would be for nothing and that there was no hope at all.

[Fran, we will find a way to make you evolve. I promise you that.] Archer said, getting a strong nod out of the girl as Art gave her a hug. [This means that our first objective needs to be getting Fran to level 45, and to that end, we will need to leave Aressa.]

"We will?" Art said, surprised.

[There are not enough strong enemies to face around here. Right now we were able to farm a few levels in the Demon Wolf Plains, but strong enemies appearing there in large numbers is an unusual event. If we want to level you two up quickly, we will need to go where there is more reliable prey.] Archer said, lifting out a map and spreading it out in front of them. [I am currently looking at the 'Cage of Crystal' Forest, a B-rank Haunt located to the East, near a port city. While it is technically a lower rank Haunt than the Demon Wolf Plains, as it won't spawn A-rank Demonic Beasts, it spawns B and C-rank enemies at a high rate, meaning that there will always be plenty of worthwhile targets.]

"Going to Haunt, not Dungeon?" Fran asked, tilting her head.

[Yes. Normally, Adventurers would choose to go to dungeons for training, as the corridors and limited number of enemy types permit a certain level of safety, and the Dungeon loot can provide a bonus source of income. However, because of this, competition for kills will be higher and there are dangers from other Adventurers that are more complicated than simply fighting Demonic Beasts. Since we are more focused on leveling up quickly than income, the Haunts are a much more appealing target. At least till Fran reaches level 45.]

"Makes sense." Art said, nodding her head. "What kind of food do they got there?"

[The most common of their B-rank Demonic Beasts is the Thunderbird. According to reports about their size and relative strength, they should have some of the highest quality meat. Though the C-rank Golden Boars are also good bang for your buck.]

"Nn! Sounds good!" "Can't wait!" Fran and Art nodded together, both of them starting to drool. Archer couldn't help but laugh.

[Well, we aren't going there immediately. I'm planning for us to leave in seven days, so I can take care of the last of our preparations. Until then, have what fun you can. It will probably be a long while before we return this way, if ever.]

"Why a week? Isn't that kind of long to be spending on preparations? I mean, we already got tons of food and you can basically carry a whole house with you in that [Dimensional Storage]. What else do we need?" Art asked.

[I need to create both of your armor sets, and make my attempt at creating a Godblade. Each of them will take some time, since I have to wait for my [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] skill to come off cooldown after each one, and I don't want use to leave the city with the skill on cooldown either.]

They had managed to track down another Doppel Snake and absorb its [Body Split] Skill again, but Archer would rather be at 100% before they leave. Until then, the city offered them a certain level of safety and comfort.

He actually wasn't sure if he would be able to make all three. He was currently only sitting on enough Magic Stones to perform a rank up twice. If made to choose, the girl's defense would take priority. With Kuroko and Shiroko, Archer now had weapons easily capable of dealing serious damage to even B-rank Demonic Beasts, making even their strongest defenses insignificant. There was still the chance of A-rank monsters proving to be too much, but the likelihood of running into Demonic Beasts capable of resisting his new weapons was low.

"You're making our armor now! Can we help design it!?" Art said, once again using her [Illusion Magic] to make her eyes shine as a huge grin split her face.

[...Uh, you want to?] Archer said, more than a little surprised.

"Of course I want to!" Art said crossing her arms. "No offense mom, but sometimes, you can be such a guy when it comes to these kinds of things, and for Fran, nothing but the absolute cutest outfit will do." She then grabbed Fran's arm and started to pull her away. "Come on, lets go make some concept sketches! Oh, we should get Nell to help chip in ideas!"

[...If only she approached learning to read with this level of enthusiasm.] Archer said with a sigh. He couldn't help but worry about what would come of this. Making Fran too cute could become dangerous. [Stupid Lady Killer title.]

* * *

"Geez, Nell didn't have to nag at us so much." Art mumbled as she and Fran started to walk back home after their nightly bath with the young women from the Adventurer's Guild's reception desk. The Demoness had a huge pout on her face, after getting lectured by Nell. "So we snuck off to the Demon Wolf Plains without getting the old elf's permission. Big deal. I don't see why we would need his permission. It isn't like he owns the place."

"No fair. Going was Archer's idea, but he didn't get a lecture." Fran said, as she stomped along, complain about the injustice of it all.

[She was just worried. Normally speaking, dealing with B-rank threats would require five or more B-rank Adventurers working together.] Archer said. [We got lucky with the nature of the threats we faced, but there was the real chance of things going wrong.]

Archer eventually had 'threat levels' explained to him, though the levels seemed pretty arbitrary at times. The general idea was that a G-rank threat was something that could threaten a normal full grown man, F-rank could be considered a threat to a group of ten people, E-rank was a threat capable of destroying a small village, D-rank could threaten a whole town, C-rank could destroy a large city, B-rank could threaten the lives of an entire country, A-rank was dangerous enough to be considered a threat to an entire continent, and S-rank threats were beings that could theoretically wipe out all life on the planet, if uncontested.

At first, it was a system of ranking that made Archer raise an eyebrow, as he felt it made things sound a lot scarier than they actually were. Yes, a B-rank Colossal Giant could smash an entire country into pieces, but that was under the impression that the country didn't have anything but normal level 1 people in it. Once you consider the fact that individuals like Donna exist, a B-rank threat can be handled by your average army.

Or so Archer thought. As it turned out, people at Donna's level were actually pretty rare, and that they just happened to stumble upon a city with an abnormally large number of such people. In fact, even people who were recruited by the royal palace weren't any better than an C-rank Adventurer.

Your average person was only level 1. Your average 10 people weren't yet level 10. You're average village didn't have anyone over level 20. Your average town didn't have access to anyone over level 30, and so on.

At the moment, the country had four A-rank Adventurers and one B-rank Adventurer who were all considered to be more powerful than the entire Kingdom's army put together, and of their five people, four of them were thought of as being in semi-retirement.

Young as they were, Fran and Art were already in the top 0.01%. It felt unreal, considering that just a few weeks back Fran was just an extremely determined slave girl. Her growth had just been extremely high. Most Adventurers took twenty years to reach her current level, if they even survived that long. In fact, someone was considered to be an abnormal talent if they reached level 35 by the age of 30, and Fran was abnormally strong, even for a level 35. Even without Archer's buffs, she would be stronger and more skilled than any of the C-rank Adventurers currently at the Guild.

Of course, her growth was a result of her unnatural luck when it came to the Demonic Beasts they had stumbled across. The hundreds of goblins, the thousands of Army Beetles, the Demon allowed her to grow extremely quickly. Even the Moonlight Dragon was a very fortunate encounter, in retrospect, especially when you considered the fact that it was a Demonic Beast that drew its power from the phases of the moons and they just so happened to fight it in the middle of the day, during the night of the new moon. Even the rare disturbances in the Demon Wolf Plains acted to help accelerate her growth.

The Blessings of the Goddess of Chaos wasn't to be taken lightly.

(People following.) Fran said as they started to move into the less wholesome part of town. She didn't even bother to look around, as that would possibly alert the people tailing them that they had been spotted. She had learned her lesson after Amanda.

(Huh? Really?) Art replied, having not noticed. Her detection skills weren't as high as Fran's, nor did she have the experience of Archer to help notice these kinds of things. (Man, it's been a hot minute since this kind of thing happened. Though usually they just walk straight up to us shouting about how stupid they are. I don't think anyone has actually tried to stalk us before.)

[Yes, three of them, by the looks of it.] Archer agreed, picking out the three people in question with ease. [Don't seem strong. All of them just have the basic Mercenary job class. Highest level among them is a 31, and his stats are rather sub-par, only around half Donna's, and they have no Magic Skills.]

(Small-Fries.) Fran agreed. pointing in the direction of a dead end alley. (Take to alley. Deal with it quick.)

(Sounds good to me.) Art agreed as they made their way into the dark alleyway. No sooner had they gotten to the end of that dead end than they started to hear stereotypical brainless evil laughs.

"My my, look what we got here, a couple of lost low level children with very shiny things." One of the soon to be deceased said as he eyed up Fran and Art's equipment. The guy was a Beastkin with cat ears and blue hair all over his head and face, he wore metal plate armor and had a sword at his side, which he was casually playing with.

* * *

Name: Gyuran

Age: 34

Race: Blue Catkin (Beastkin)

Job: Mercenary

Status: Normal

Level: 31/45

HP: 168 MP: 136 STR: 78 END: 81 AGI: 118 INT: 70 MGC: 60 DEX: 81

Skills: Intimidation Lv3, Danger Perception Lv3, Archery Lv2, Strong Presence Perception Lv5, Sword Techniques Lv5, Sword Arts Lv6, Shield Arts Lv4, Flash Step Lv3, Commerce Lv3, Spear Arts Lv3, Dagger Arts Lv3, Threaten Lv3, Capture Lv3, Paralysis Resistance Lv3, Vigor Manipulation, Pain Reduction, AGI ↑, Directional Sense, Night Eyes

Titles: None

* * *

(Learned Skill: Strong Presence Perception Lv5 | A skill which allows the user to know instinctively whether the individual they are confronting is a lower or higher level than them through a magic based perception. Rarity 5)

A Skill worthy of a coward who never picks a fight with anyone who might be stronger than him… the poor bastard. Because of Fran's [Magic Concealment] she must be turning up in his vision as so low of a level as to be nonexistent, where as Art is technically a level 4.

He believes that he is massively stronger than the two children in front of him, but they were about to rip him apart. Archer had never disguised Fran or Art's equipment, even though he knew that things like this would occasionally happen.

Anyone who tried to rob the pair of children was a waste of humanity and deserved what was coming to them.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but unlike before, Fran's normally cool demeanor changed. At the sight of the blue haired Beastkin, she bore her teeth and the hair on her head and tail began to stand on end.

"Hm? You a Black Catkin, right?" The Blue Catkin said, with a laugh. "My esteemed self is from the Blue Catkin Tribe. Could it be that you detest me?

"Blue Catkin Tribe: Enemies." Fran said forcefully as she reached for Archer's hilt.

"Fran, what's wrong?" Art said, not used to her cute little friend getting so angry at a bunch of 'small-fry'.

"Blue Catkin Tribe has lots of slave merchants. Black marketeers as well." Fran explained quickly. "Around 300 years ago, the Blue Catkin Tribe started becoming slave traders. Tricked members of the Black Catkin Tribe. Made us into slaves and sold. Blue Catkin Tribe pretended to be friendly, then launched a surprise attack. Many of the Black Catkin were caught and sold. Tried to appealed to the King of the Beastmen, but because of status, but couldn't receive an audience."

"Hahaha, and why would the Beast Lord ever give the time of day to worthless little weaklings like you? None of you can even evolve. You belong as slaves." The man laughed along with his two lackeys. "So don't worry, after we strip the two of you naked, you will be going exactly where you belong."

...After his words ended, the exit to the alley closed behind him as a stone wall erupted from the ground. A silencing spell was placed over the small section of the city and the entire place turned deathly silent. The three 'mercenaries' backed away as a massive amount of killing intent flooded over them.

[Fran, Art, I know you are angry, but try to leave them alive?]

(Why should we?) Fran asked as she drew Archer from her back.

[Because, we can't torture them for information about the black market's location if they are dead. Cut their limbs off, but keep them alive… for now.]

(...Understood.)


	23. Chapter 23

Smuggling the limbless slavers back to their home proved rather easy, as no one questioned why Adventurers would be walking around with a very large, lumpy and blood stained bag. Everyone assumed it was a Demonic Beast that they had recently killed and was awaiting skinning. A few people even stopped them in the streets to offer their services to help dismaintal the kill. One of the perks that came with the job.

After they managed to get home, they woke the Slavers up and started to squeeze every drop of information they could out of the men. [Support Magic] and [Healing Magic] once again showing their worth by keeping the men alive no matter how much they were tortured, and reinforcing their pain receptors, making it all feel ten times worse. There was also the fear of being carved open by a magical talking sword with unknown powers. That had loosened some tongues, as did Art dropping her [Racial Mimicry] before starting to talk about eating the blue one.

...Archer wasn't sure if that was a line he was ready to cross. …Though he saw the logic of it. Higher level human-likes had by far the most stats-per-pound out of anything he had seen thus far… and he was a slaver.

Surprisingly, it was Fran who shot the idea down, saying it wasn't good for Art to eat crap.

At first, he had tried to insist that Fran and Art stay out of the room while he did the interrogation, but they assured him that was unnecessary. After all, they were just slavers. It wasn't like they were butchering people. And they were used to seeing people getting cut and healed over and over again in their sparring sessions, so this wasn't really anything new to them.

...Archer was a horrible influence.

The men spilt their guts, literally, under the loving attention of Archer and his little demons. And through a mixture of threats, pain, horror, and some good old fashioned Magecraft hypnosis, they learned everything they wanted to about the local black market slave trade, including its location, dealings, its inside men in the City Knights and Guards, and its connections with cells in other city, including a port town in the south which smuggled kidnapped women and children out of the country. This Archer made careful note of.

Originally, he had been planning to take the girls through the mountains on route to their next destination, as the open sea carried dangers to one blessed by chaos. But with the introduction of a slave market to dismantle, the southern path became more appealing.

The country of Reidos would also be a name to remember, as it made a habit of kidnapping people from other lands to be used as slaves. It was a good target for the future, once Fran had evolved and they were ready to start bringing down entire kingdoms. Though that was still above their weight class at the moment.

Gathering everything they needed, they shoved the bastards in a closet and used [Wind Magic] to silence them, just in case the information proved incomplete, and in no way because Archer didn't feel like they had suffered enough yet. Laying there for hours, waiting to find out what would happen, how their lives would come to an end, giving their imaginations a chance to run wild while they screamed their lungs out, praying for a salvation that would never come… that Archer refused to give them.

They left to act upon the information, leaving the trio alone. It wasn't like they were going anywhere. They didn't have any limbs. The worst they could do is bite off their own tongues, and even if one or two of them did that, nothing would be lost. Cleaning up the mess wouldn't even take a moment.

To Fran and Art's surprise, their night time excursion didn't start with the Slaver's hideout. That would be their second stop.

No, you had to make sure to hit high first, dealing with the head rat before targeting the nest, otherwise they would just scurry away and make a new infestation elsewhere.

Their first target that night would be Vice Captain of the City Knights, Augusto Alsund.

* * *

How does one sleep at night knowing they use the powers gifted to them by noble birth and Gods to betray their country and its innocent people to criminal elements working for a foriegn power?

The answer is simply, they use the money they made from the various bribes and blackmarket dealings to buy themselves the largest and most comfortable bed money can buy. Then they take their pick of the most elegant of the young women they had wrongly accused of crimes in order to brand them as slaves to help warm said bed when it gets too cold.

Was he a disgusting pig and a liar? Perhaps. But the entire world was full of liars, and no one knew that better than he. He had always known when people lied, as his [Principle of an Element(Falsehood)] would tell him so. Everyone was a liar. The nobles were liars. The peasants were liars. The knights were all liars. The Adventurers were liars. So in a world where everyone was a disgusting liar, why would he not make himself king of the liars. After all, he was only making full use of the gifts that the Gods had given him, was that so wrong?

Sadly, that night he was too busy to invite any of his 'criminal' slaves into his bedchambers. He had to write his report to the Reidosian spy, telling him that their plans were going well and that the mole they planted inside of the Adventurer's Guild had managed to smuggle the Magic Food into the Cobwebs Dungeon. There was already evidence of evolution occurring.

By the time the Adventurer's Guild found out, the place would be over ran with higher-breed Trick Spiders and even Trickster Spiders. And when their Adventuring teams are slaughtered during their promotion exams, it will be all the proof of incompetence that Augusto needed in order to take away control of the Dungeons from that filthy elf. After that, it will be easy to make use of his connections to steal as much Mana Crystals as Reidos could possibly buy. Who cares if they were using the stuff for their weapons of war, it wasn't Augusto's problem. If they ever attacked, he would be the first to defect, and if they didn't he could continue his work for them.

He just needed to make sure that they knew just how invaluable he we was to their blackmarket slave trade, and how many of the countries secrets he could share with them.

Having completed his letter, Augusto sealed it in an envelope… Then he felt something strike him in the back, through his chair.

Augusto had just enough time to look down at the blade that was sticking out of his chest before his head managed to process the fact that he was dead.

[What a disgusting creature.] Archer said as he looked over the fat noblemen with distaste, especially his [Principle of an Element(Falsehood)].

If Archer's [Principle of an Element(Sword)] made him a man with the soul of a weapon, he could only imagine how fucked up a man with the [Principle of an Element(Falsehood)] would be. What do you get when you make a man whose soul is made of lies?

Well, apparently you get the kind of filth that participates in human trafficking and good old fashion murder for profit.

Floating around to the pig's desk, he looked over the letter then man had been writing, using [Structural Analysis] to read it through the envelope. [How lucky can you get? We caught him right in the middle of writing his confession. The old elf is going to love this.] Archer said as he pocketed the papers into his pocket dimension.

(Wow, mom this bed is amazing!) Art said as she and Fran were testing out the now dead man's king sized bed, laying flat on their backs and making angels on the covers. (It's so soft! It's like laying on a cloud!)

(Nn! Keeping it!) Fran agreed.

[...Well, I don't see why not.] Archer said as he looked around the room, inspecting the nice furnishings. It would be a shame for them to go to waste. It wasn't like other people would see it and recognize it as belonging to the Vice Captain. Or rather, the former Vice Captain.

Fran and Art started to sort through the man's things, trying to decide what they would loot. The pair cheered when they found his personal safe, but their marryment was short lived as inside they found several hundred thousand in gold coins and a dozen… slave contracts. The two immediately destroyed the contracts in order to set the people free. Meanwhile, Archer checked to see if the man had any other incriminating evidence lying around.

Once he found some, he left it on the man's body before righting "Treason" on the wall in the man's blood. With a job well done they left the scene of the crime, setting fire to a shrubbery he had in his front lawn as they went in order to draw the authorities, before turning their attention to the next item on the list.

* * *

The next target was a warehouse that acted as the headquarters for a local mercenary group. No one seemingly questioning why there was a local mercenary group in such a peaceful area with such an overstaffed Adventurer's Guild and its own City Knights. If Archer had ever come across the place, he would have immediately marked it as suspicious.

Using [Earth Magic], they identified the underground basement where the slaves were kept. [Remember, secure the prisoners before they can be used as hostages, then systematically clear out the area of anyone who can sound the alarm until you make a safe passage for them to escape.]

"Mom, how many times have you done this kind of thing?"

[...Good question. I don't actually remember. A few dozen, maybe?] Archer said. He vaguely remembered the jobs he took as a mercenary assassin, but just like most other things in his life before dead, it was all muddied, none of the names and places feeling distinct enough to put his thumb on them.

"Archer: Professional." Fran nodded her head before placing one hand on the ground and starting to chant. While being careful not to disturb the nearby area, she began to dig her tunnel, compressing the walls into hardened stone in order to support the weight above them as they moved towards their target.

Normally, Fran would have probably enjoyed the work, using her magic in new and creative ways to solve difficult problems. But the idea of what she was about to see made her quiet. [Fran, you don't have to do this.] Archer said quietly to the girl. [If it is too much, Art and I can handle it.]

(No. Have to do this.) Fran insisted before pushing forward.

When they were a mere two feet away from the basement, they paused, carving a thin hole to allow the air to flow, allowing them to cast [Wind Magic] into the room to muffle the sound. After which, they opened the tunnel wide and stormed into the basement.

Their first priority was immediately the guards, the two girls rushing the three men who were standing near the stair with looks of shock. All three were decapitated before they had the chance to make a sound. Even there heads and bodies fell into Archer's dimensional storage, rather than hitting the floor. "[Silence]" Fran asked over the staircase, as the people in the cages were starting to make noise. "Check for others." Fran instructed Art.

"You got it." The Demoness said as she moved to make sure that the downstairs was secure. Fran approached the cages where four children, three girls and a boy, their ages ranging from eight to fourteen were huddled together.

"Who… who are you?" One of the oldest asked.

"Hero." Fran said in her curt manner. Archer felt a twinge and had the urge to smile.

[Fran, hold me close to the keyhole so that I can analyze the lo...] Archer was cut short when Fran simply used him to cut the bars to pieces with a pair of excellent swings.

(This way faster.) Fran said as she walked over the bars and up to the slave children. Her eyes passed over the collars around their necks and Archer could feel her grip on him tightening.

[Fran, are you alright?] Archer checked on her.

"Nn." She said with a nod before lifting her hand to the collar of the smallest of the children. Using their maxed level [Contract Magic] Fran completely stripped the magic contract that bound the child, causing the collar to unlock and fall to the ground. The other children gasped in shock as Fran repeated the process three more times, removing the other collars just as easily. "Hole in the wall. Leave and go to the Adventurer's Guild for shelter." Fran said pointing them to the way out.

"Huh? B...but what about you?" One of the children stammered.

"Going to exterminate slavers." Fran said coolie. "Go. Passage is safe."

Art came back around, dragging the body of a fourth man who had been using a toilet in the far side of the basement, which Archer disposed of into his [Dimensional Storage].

After that, they started to head up the stairs.

Was everyone in that building knowingly involved with illegal slavery? Who knows. For safety's sake, they would only kill those with the [Capture], [Kidnap] and [Smuggling] skills, the rest can be rendered unconscious with [Dark Magic] and processed by whatever authorities get involved in the clean up.

The moment before they exited the basement, Art cast a [Darkest Viel] spell over the entire building. The sudden loss of their sense of sight cause panic in the occupants, but Fran and Art were still able to locate their targets in the darkness, and Archer wasn't completely unaffected by the loss of vision, firing off projected swords at everyone who had the aforementioned skills while the girls cast [Steal Thought] on everyone they could find, rendering them unconscious.

...You know, Archer had been expecting a challenge, for the [Blessing of the Chaos Goddess] to simply cause an A-rank threat to materialize out of nowhere, pushing the three of them to their limits just to stay alive and teaching Fran and Art a valuable lesson about never underestimating their enemies… Only there wasn't one.

In fact, all of the slavers were, to be frank, extremely weak. Weaker than your average high school boxer back on Earth.

It was actually disheartening. Fran and Art seemed equally disappointed at the anticlimax, when after ten seconds had elapsed and they were left standing in the room large with thirty incapasitated or dead criminals.

"That's it?" Fran said, pouting slightly as she lowered Archer to the ground.

[I'm not sensing anyone, so… I guess.] Archer said, checking and double checking their surroundings.

"Huh… So, where are we hitting up next?" Art asked as she lowered the viel and sheathed her weapon.

[First we need to search for any documentation that might point towards others who were involved. Normally we would be going to the guard barrack after that. Once we compare the exit times of the Slavers to the guard's patrols, we should know who the corrupted elements are. After that, the trades office to find out who has been issuing the permits to these people. But that is stuff probably best left to the Guild Master. So I guess we should just escort the children back to the Guild Hall and then call it a day.]

"Seriously? No big fight? What a rip." "Nn. Let down." Art and Fran grumbled, but they went to work searching for needed papers.

The three were gone before anyone even arrived to investigate the dark cloud that had appeared around the building.

* * *

"I see." Klimt said as he looked over the letter that Fran and Art had… procured for him. It connected a lot of extremely valuable and dangerous information. Things that could have caused huge problems for both the guild and the country in the future.

Well, he supposed he could scratch the idea of the two girls being foreign spies off of his list… unless they were playing the long game.

The children had tracked him down as he was leaving the scene of Augusto Alsund's dead body, and showed him the documents that they had stolen from the crime scene. Very important documents related to the guild itself, with not only revealed a plan to sabotage the Dungeon but also named a spy that had been among them, someone that Klimt himself had already had his eyes on, but lacked the evidence needed to confront.

"So, we now have undeniable evidence that Augusto Alsund had been working to undermine the country. It is almost enough to make me wish that he was still alive, just so that I could break him with it." Klimt said, looking from the document to the children. "Sadly, because of the delicate nature of the events, I can't credit you for them without causing trouble for you. Even if he was treasonous scum, he was still a noble with high connections. But the Guild is used to dealing with things like this. I will arrange for you to be accredited with completing a vague C-rank mission and see what I can do about a reward. The two of you certainly deserve one."

"More interested in breakfast." Fran admitted.

"Yeah, breakfast does sound good." Art agreed, rubbing her stomach.

Klimt's mouth twitched. Most other D-rank Adventurers would be cheering at the news that they would be getting a free C-rank mission added to their record, as 10 were needed if one wanted to rank up to being a C-rank Adventurer. But the girls didn't seem to care. He wondered if anyone ever even told them what the normal route was for earning promotions in the Guild.

Strictly speaking, Klimt had broken the rules when he had promoted the two girls up to D-rank, as there was supposed to be baseline mission requirements to the rank. But Klimt had been a Guild Master longer than most of the other Guild Masters had been alive, so his recommendation carried enough weight to raise the two up to D-rank. But in order to promote further, they would have to complete missions like everyone else.

Really, his motivation for promoting them hadn't been just because of their skill. While having more skilled hands on deck to join in on the harder missions was nice, the real reason for shooting them up in the ranks faster than anyone else in history lay more in his desire to keep them in the spotlight. To make sure that all the other Guild Masters out there knew that there was something different about the two and that they needed to be handled carefully and to never let them out of their sight for a moment.

While only playing around, they had psychologically damaged a good deal of Klimt's men. When upset, they had gone on a vendetta capable of bringing down an entire blackmarket that had been alluding capture for years, with connections going all the way up to the top, in a single night. Heaven forbid that anyone do something to earn an actual grudge from the pair. It would likely end with the destruction of an entire city.

"Freed slaves: what's going to happen?" Fran asked, seeming concerned.

"You don't need to worry. Our Guild isn't the kind to just throw them out onto the streets. Amanda would kill us if we did." Klimt chuckled, causing the two girls to flinch. "We will do our best to get the children back to their families, and for those who don't have families to return to, we are in close relations with the local orphanage. I can assure you that they will be well cared for."

"That's good. Happily ever after and all." Art said, throwing up her arms and giving a long yawn. "Come on Fran, lets go back home and get some sleep. I want to test out that new bed."

"Nn!"

The two girls started to walk towards the door, when it was thrown violently open. "Klimt, I'm here to give my report!" Amanda said quickly, as if in a hurry.

"Amanda, what have I said about knocking? And it is three in the morning, can't your report wait until tomorrow? ...Actually, weren't you not scheduled to come back for another three days?" Klimt said, rubbing his temple as the local A-rank Adventurer burst into the room. It was too early in the day for him to be dealing with this shit.

However, Amanda wasn't listening to him, she was just looking straight at the little girls who were about to be one there way out, the two looking back at her with shock and perhaps fear.

"Fran!" Amanda squealed, launching herself at the Black Catkin girl with arms spread wide, the girl giving a squeak of terror as the woman drew her into a tight hug.

"Let go of her you crazy lady!" Art shouted as she jumped onto Amanda back, trying to drag the woman off of her friend, to no avail.

Klimt just watched, not sure what he was seeing, before giving a long sigh.

It was really too early in the day for this shit.


	24. Chapter 24

It took a little doing to get Amanda to allow the children to leave so that she could give her mission report, but eventually, it was just Klimt and Amanda alone.

"So, you ran into our newest additions in the Haunt itself. I didn't realize that was where they had been sneaking off to." Klimt said as Amanda explained the circumstances surrounding her first running into Fran and Art.

Taking down a B-rank Colossal Giant in a single hit? She used [Air Jump]? That was supposed to be a skill restricted to the Sky Knight job. How did she have it?

"Amanda, could I ask you something? If you came across a Homunculus child, would your 'Guardian of Children' title classify it as a child?" Klimt asked.

"Huh? That was a little random, but a child is a child, the conditions around one's birth doesn't change that." Amanda said, giving Klimt a confused look. "Is this about Art, because she isn't a Homunculus?"

"No, it's about both of them. Homunculus is the only thing I can think of to explain their strength and Fran's wide variety of magic and skills. It simply isn't natural for a beastkin." Klimt explained, laying his theory out.

"...Klimt, I can personally assure you that Fran is a naturally born Black Catkin child." Amanda said.

"I thought you said that a Homunculus would still turn up in your vision as a child."

"That's true. But I knew Fran's parents, they introduced me to her before... they died." Amanda said, her usual pushy demeaner defleating as she admitted it. "Fran was only a baby at the time, so she wouldn't remember."

"Is that so." Klimt said, scratching his chin. "Based on your behavior, I'm guessing that one or both of her parents were once a part of your orphanage, and considering Fran's age, her parents would have been among your first group of kids." Amanda nodded sadly. "If that is the case, then how in the world is she so… strong?"

"She's strong?" Amanda asked, sounding surprised.

"You couldn't tell? You were just saying how she cut down a giant." Klimt said, seeming dumbfounded with the woman.

"Well… yes, but I couldn't ever sense any strength from her." Amanda said, she crossed her arms and seemed to be thinking about it hard. "I guess it didn't really occur to me."

"Yes, the 'Magus Killer' job of hers is a dangerous one for people like you." Klimt said as he thought back to his findings after digging into the origins of the job. An extremely rare job class that requires one to develop two rarely obtained skills among humans, [Mana Drain] and [Magic Barrier]. "It grants a [Magic Concealment] skill which can hide the user's magic. Unless she is actively casting, it is impossible to sense her through [Magic Detection]."

With how high her [Magic Detection] skill was, Amanda had a tendency to use it in place of [Appraisal] to determine just how powerful an individual was. Actually, almost all of the most powerful magic users put a lot of faith in their [Magic Detection] skill. Fran being able to hide her magical energy made her as difficult for Amanda to read her as the [Appraisal Block] skill made things for Klimt.

"Dangerous? Aren't you being a bit paranoid? Honestly Klimt, she is just a child." Amanda said, scolding the older elf.

"It is my job to be paranoid when a child appears out of nowhere with a magic sword, and treats Donna like a punching bag. Not only that, she has both the Demon Slayer and Dragon Slayer titles. She… isn't normal." Klimt said, starting to rub his eyes. "And the only thing we know about her is that she says she was trained by 'Archer'."

"Archer?" Amanda said, froaning. "Are you talking about that spirit that was with them?"

Klimt bolted up in his seat, exhaustion leaving him as his eyes widened. "He is a spirit!? You saw him!?"

"Well, sort of. I fought with him in the Demon Wolf Plains while Fran and Art were… running away from me." Amanda said a little miserably. Klimt could understand why they would try to run, considering what he had seen just moments before. Amanda was acting oddly, even for her. She was usually more calm and just really pushy. "I didn't really 'see' him, because he maintained a [Darkest Veil] spell up through the entire length of our fight. But from what I could sense, he was definitely a spirit. His body was entirely made out of magic energy and after the fight was over, he lost his corporeal form, just like any other spirit."

"You fought against him? What is your assessment of him?" Klimt asked, listening carefully.

"His physical strength was only on the lower side of a B-rank Adventurer, but I've never seen anyone so skilled with weapons. Even while dividing his focus to keep up the [Darkest Veil] he was still able to deflect my every attack. He talked about my [Divine Whip Arts] as if they were a joke. I pushed myself as hard as I dared, but it still wasn't enough for me to actually beat him." Amanda said, reaching into her bag and retrieving her whip. Klimt appraised the item, finding that it was only just hanging on, its 1000 durability reduced to just 15. "In the end, the two of us were around even, with me being too fast for him to catch, but him being too skilled for me to get around his blocks and parries. The fight only ended when he exhausted himself and couldn't remain stable."

"...Weapons. Are you telling me that he has a human form?"

"That's right. It was small, about child sized, but he was definitely not a child." Amanda said. "At first, I thought he might have been Umbra, because of the [Darkness Magic], but he claimed to be a Nameless Spirit and only 50 years old. The only reason he came to mind when you said Archer was because he was first shooting at me with a bow. He was so skilled with it that he could read the air currents of my wind spells and shoot through them."

"He talked…?"

"He was using a kind of telepathy. I was surprised by how fluent he was."

An Ether Attributed Spirit. A Young Ether Attributed Spirit capable of taking on a human form, but who didn't seem to be a Supreme-Class Spirit. One that was skilled enough with weapons to fight against Amanda. Klimt was left in a state of awe, wishing that he could see such a being with his own eyes.

So, Fran really does have a Guardian Spirit capable of taking down a Moonlight Dragon in her name. As a Spirit, it was very unlikely that Archer had any connections with any existing human nation. The only question was his own disposition. Considering he was taking care of a pair of young girls, he didn't seem evil, but it was still best to get Amanda's opinion on the matter.

"Do you think he is benevolent?"

"I'd say so. He only attacked me knowing that my [Grace of the Spirits] would protect me from death, and only because he thought I might be a threat to Fran and Art." Amanda insisted.

"I see. This is a load off my mind. I no longer have to worry about Archer's machinations, though I will admit, I would very much like to see this spirit for myself someday." Klimt said as he relaxed in his seat. "I think we are done here, if you would like to step out… Ah, but next time, don't force others to go through a death march just because you want to check on…" The door was slamming before the Guild Master could even finish. "She really does just do whatever she wants."

Neither he nor Amanda had noticed the small metal marble in the corner dissolve as Archer allowed the [Transformed] [Body Split] body to fade away, its mission accomplished.

* * *

Amanda moved through the halls of the Guild, hoping she would be able to catch up to Fran again. Feeling a need to make sure she was safe. But as she got closer to the front entrance, she slowed down, as she heard Art and Nell's voices. Amanda concealed her presence and slowly approached, peeking around the edge of the door.

"What is with that crazy lady!? I understand that Fran is cute but she acts like she wants to kidnap her!" Art said before shoving an entire pancake into her mouth. Fran was sitting next to her, also with her cheeks stuff with food.

Cute…

"You'll have to forgive her." Nell said with a small chuckle. "Amanda might be a little weird, but she isn't a bad person. She is called by many the 'Mother of Demon Children', because of everything she had done to help unfortunate children. She's been running an orphanage since she was young in order to help children who have lost their families. People with the Appraisal skill can attest to the fact that she had the 'Guardian of Children' title, proof that the Gods have seen her actions and approve of them. I'm sure that she really just worries about the two of you. Adventuring is dangerous business, and you are awfully young. I'm sure she will ease up once she sees how strong the two of you are."

Amanda winced. She knew that her friend was trying to defend her, but she wished that she wouldn't have mentioned her title. Not to Fran, of all people.

Everyone always talked about her title, saying that it was the gods rewarding her for her hard work, but that had never been how Amanda herself had seen it. As useful as the title was, it had always felt like the gods were damning her with false praise. Like they gave it to her to remind her what she had done. It was the only logical reason she could think of for them to reward were with it, when there were others who were more deserving, who didn't live with her crimes.

When they were young, Fran's parents, Kinan and Framia, had wanted to become Adventurers, so that they could pursue the dream of evolution. But the two of them lacked talent, and Amanda could see nothing but death awaiting them, so she did everything she could to stop them. She refused to train them, and pilled work on them when they tried to train by themselves. She belittled their dream, saying that it was impossible, telling them that they were too weak. Good as her intentions had been, she had bullied them, and when they had had enough, they left. They ran away from the orphanage to become adventurers on their own.

She tried to beg them to come back, but they wouldn't. Then she tried to assist them, but they refused her help. They cut off all contact with her. Amanda had been convinced that they had hated her. They had been her children, and she had pushed them to this.

Trying to escape the guilt of what she had done, Amanda threw herself at her work and training, nearly dying more than once do to exhaustion.

Even while running her orphanages all across the country, Amanda trained herself so hard that despite her nature as a Half-Elf decreasing her rate of growth, she managed to grow from being a Rank-C to a Rank-A in just five years. It was around that time that she received the 'Guardian of Children' title. It had felt like a vicious mockery from the gods.

She didn't let up until one day, eleven years back, Kinan and Framia returned to visit with their baby girl. Amanda had been so relieved to find out that they didn't hate her, and had cried when they had asked her to be little Fran's Godmother. It was only after that that she allowed herself to rest once again. To take advantage of the wealth that she had gathered as an Adventurer to hire more hands to help with taking care of the orphanages, so that she didn't carry the burden almost entirely on her own shoulders.

But even so, she never felt like she was truly deserving of her title, and while she put on a strong front, she fell into a depression after Kinan and Framia died and their daughter disappeared. Having failed her duties as the girl's godmother, she felt even more ashamed.

She wanted to go to her, to grab onto her and never let go. She wanted to lock her away in a tower, far away from anything that could hurt her, to stop her from marching to her death, the same way her parents had.

[You wouldn't be able to stop her even if you tried.] Amanda stiffened in surprise as Archer's voice came to her. [Don't be too surprised, when you think so loudly, of course I will take notice. Even without a contract between us, I can still hear you if I focus. Even if it sounds like it is coming over a great distance.]

(How… long have you been listening?) Amanda thought hard, trusting that Archer would hear it. She could actually feel him sending the message into her mind. She would have noticed him monitoring her before, if she had been paying attention, and she could block it, if she wished.

[Since your conversation with the Old Elf. You sure were quick to squeal about me, and here I was having so much fun watching him pace around his office in fits of paranoid.]

(Then you know what the relationship between me and Fran is.)

[You're her godmother, but at the moment, you feel too ashamed to tell her.] Archer said simply, Amanda nodded her head, even though she didn't know if the Spirit could see it. She couldn't sense him anywhere. [Frankly, you're being stupid. Everyone has things they regret, but simply sulking about it won't fix anything, nor while trying to sabotage her or control her. Regardless, what you try, Fran will never give up, and your actions have already startled the two of them and placed them on guard against you.]

(I wasn't there for her. I don't have the right to call myself her godmother. Besides, I've already messed up. Like you said, she's already building up a wall against me.)

[If you want to make friends with those two, it isn't that hard. At least, not for someone like you.] Archer said, surprising Amanda.

(What? How?)

* * *

The Mother of Demon Children, Amanda.

The Hundredblade Swordsman, Forrund.

The Dragon Eater, Fermus.

The Dragon Genicider, Gamud.

The Annihilator, Jean Dovy.

Five names belonging to five people who's combine reputation made the Kingdom of Kranzel seemingly unconquerable, even without an S-rank individual or a god weapon that their disposal, as each one of them possessed the kind of abilities capable of bringing small countries to their knees, even if the country in question could field dozens of individuals of the B-rank or even one or two A-ranks.

Opening up a little to Amanda and letting her get close to his master was a risk, however the potential of getting a powerful ally was there. Amanda could be the same for Fran as Rin and Rani had been for Hakuno. Someone who would watch her back and fight the type of battles that she was not prepared for, perhaps even a mentor for the lifestyle of an Adventurer and this world in general, teaching her things that Archer would not know.

Besides, Archer could sympathize with her self-flagellation over the perceived failure towards her purpose.

The possible benefits outweighed the risks, and so, Archer let Amanda in on the second most sure fire way to endear oneself to Fran and Art, right behind baking them a cake.

"Hello again you two." Amanda said, making both Fran and Art bolt up in their seats before jumping over the table and attempting to use Ms. Flannel as a human shield. Archer had to stop himself from laughing, seeing the pair staring out from behind their chosen shield, eyes full of suspicion.

"Amanda! How many times have I said not to mask your presence when you are coming up behind people!?" Flannel shouted, though the pout on her face made it seem like she wasn't actually very angry.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to scare them." Amanda said still all smiles. "Let me make it up to you. I hear that the two of you enjoy training. Well, how would you like to spar with me?"

Glasses fell to the ground and shattered as many of the Adventurers who had been around since Fran and Art's arrival looked horrified at the thought of Fran, Art and Amanda all fighting together. Though the suggestion instantly caused all suspicion and fear to disappear from Fran and Art's faces. "Really?" "Really?" The two asked together, Art's eyes shining while Fran's ears started to twitch.

"...So cute… I mean, of course!" Amanda said, smiling back.

Excited by the chance to fight against one of the strongest people in the country. Those two girls really were battle junkies.


	25. Chapter 25

This was surprisingly difficult.

After leaving the city limits, at Nell's insistence, the spar had started out almost exactly as Amanda had expected it. The two girls were faster and stronger than Amanda would have expected, all things considered, but it was clear that they had never fought anyone who wielded a whip before, whereas Amanda had fought more swordsmen than she cared to count.

She hadn't even had to move as she kept the two at bay with her fast attacks and could easily deflect their attempts at magic. However, it didn't stay easy. Within five minutes, they had started to get a feel for Amanda's patterns and had even started to force her to move. Within ten minutes, she had to go from using only her [Divine Whip Arts] to actually adding her [Divine Whip Techniques] into the mix, then after twenty, even magic had to be applied to keep Amanda from being overwhelmed.

This wouldn't have been nearly as challenging if she just has her normal weapon repaired. Her backup whip was of fine quality, but it didn't have the [Weight Control] or [Length Control] abilities of the Sky Dragon's Whisker, which massively limited both her range and attack power.

Now, at around the forty-five minute mark, without Amanda managing to incapacitate either of them, she was starting to wonder how long this was going to last. Normally, spars didn't last for more than a four or five minutes, but neither of the girls seemed like they were thinking about stopping. In fact, they both had excited looks in their eyes as the battle continued. Amanda would admit, she didn't often get to enjoy herself like this either, as she found herself occasionally laughing when Fran performed one of her artful dodges of an attack that Amanda was used to flattening her enemies.

"[Gale Lance]." Amanda shouted, using another high density wind blast to force Fran to cancel her charge as the girl raised her [Magic Barrier] skill to almost completely nullify the damage from Amanda's spell. With her forward momentum lost, Fran was forced to dash to the side to avoid Amanda's whip.

[If you keep using your magic like that, you are going to run yourself out of mana.] Archer advised the A-rank Adventurer as the fight continued.

([Magic Barrier] takes up a good deal of mana itself. Fran will run out long before I will.) Amanda replied as she dodged a pair of [Mithril Knives of Return] thrown at her back by Art, as the girl stood just outside of the reach of her whip. Norally, she was just chase her down, but she had the capability of sinking into the shadows if Amanda didn't reach her fast enough, and attempting to charge her meant turning her back on Fran. (At this pace, they should run out of mana any time now.)

[That might normally be the case, except for unlike you, Fran and Art both have [Automatic Mana Regeneration], and Fran has a mana reserve of well over 4000 units. You might think that you are the one who is playing a war of attrition with them, but in reality, it is the other way around. They are patiently waiting for you to start to tire before they start to push for victory.]

(...What?) Amanda's mind had a hard time processing that bit of information, as she continued to fight.

4000 units? What kind of insane number was that? Amanda had never even met any human-like who had a larger Mana pool than her and she had 825 units of mana. How was such a number even possible? If Archer wasn't bullshitting her then…

[I'd suggest you start taking this seriously.]

"[Wind Tunnel]!" Amanda shouted, creating a tunnel of wind, pulling a massive amount of air towards her with her in a cyclone of wind, pulling Fran off her feet as the catgirl once again tried to close the distance. She tried to raise her [Magic Barrier] again, but as the magical wind was directed at her, but affecting everything around her, she couldn't counteract it. Off balance, she couldn't dodge when Amanda's attack came from her weak side.

It was amazing that the girl even managed to bring her sword in place to guard, but unlike Archer, she couldn't deflect the attack without having to take the brunt of the force. Fran was sent spinning through the air, at high speeds after absorbing the attack head on.

"Fran!" Art shouted, before realizing that Amanda was turning on her. "Oh snap!"

Triggering [Instantaneous Movement] Amanda became a blur and the distance between the two simply disappeared. In panic, Art quickly sank into her own shadow, trying to get away, but Amanda had dealt with such skills in the past and knew exactly how to counter it. She infused her hand with magic using her [Hand-to-hand Techniques] skill and slammed her hand into the shadow. Art's body came bouncing up out of the ground as the energy threw her out of his own technique.

Amanda then grabbed the girl's leg, and in a fluid motion, she spun the girl around and tossed her full force into Fran, who had been trying to come up behind the A-ranker. Art slammed into Fran, who barely managed to catch her without falling over herself, before having to defend the both of them from a flurry of blows from Amanda's whip. It took everything the pair had to recover and retreat, using multiple wind spells to cover them as they went.

"Suddenly: stronger." Fran observed.

"Yeah, she must be taking things seriously now." Art mumbled as she rubbed her ribs. "Well, lets start to give it our all too!"

"Nn!"

Amanda's sight of the two was suddenly obscured by a large black cloud as Art cast [Black Veil] over the spot the pair had been standing in. With Fran's [Magic Concealment], Amanda would have to depend on only her [Presence Detection] and Guardian of Children abilities to track the girl in the darkness.

No impossible, but it was easier for her to simply back up and deal with whatever the girls were trying to cook up in there. Amanda was momentarily surprised when the pair came rushing out, with Fran keeping her distance and Art moving into close quarters.

While Art wasn't physically weak by any means, her [Sword Arts] was significantly weaker than Fran's, hurting her effectiveness against Amanda up close. This was why she had thus far kept her distance and provided support with her dark magic spells, which Fran seemed to be immune to, making friendly fire a nonissue. But now it was Art who was rushing in while Fran kept her distance and cast magic.

Fran must have been planning something big. She would have to deal with Art quickly and make sure that Fran didn't have time to finish whatever it was the girl was doing.

Or so Amanda thought, but after her first wave of attacks were parried by 'Art' she suddenly realized her mistake. She could sense magical energy on both 'Art' and 'Fran'. It was [Illusion Magic], the two had switched appearances while inside of the [Black Veil], trying to throw Amanda off. Letting 'Art' close the distance as she used movement skills and [Support Magic] that she hadn't possessed before.

It was a cute trick, but ultimately only let her get in close with Amanda, who wasn't by any means weak up in close. Amanda was able to deflect 'Art''s attack with her whip, giving her a chance to grab the girl, right hand which was holding Art's black short sword, with her own left hand. "Nice try Fran, but I know that's you." Amanda said with a smile as the girl struggled, her disguise disappearing due to Amanda's touch.

"Got you." Fran said confidently.

Amanda was shocked when Art came shooting up out of Fran's shadow, a pair of throwing knives in hand, thrusting towards Amanda's stomach and forward leg. Amanda only just managed to move her right arm into the way, receiving an injury to her dominant hand in order to protect her stomach, before countering the girl's sneak attack with a powerful kick with her now injured leg, which the little Demoness managed to block.

How? Amanda thought that Art was the other Fran. Was the Fran from before just an illusion? No, that was impossible, her Guardian of Children confirmed that there had been a child there and she had detected its presence as well… she could still feel its presence.

Amanda let go of Fran and jumped away as 'Fran' rushed in at full speed with her magic sword at the ready. Leaving Amanda completely dumbstruck.

There were three children there now.

"We fooled you good!" Art laughed as she got back to her feet catching her short sword as Fran tossed it to her before reclaiming her own sword from 'Fran', who then pulled a black long sword of similar dimensions to her magic sword out of what Amanda recognized as a [Dimensional Storage].

Who was that? The Fran who rushed her first was the real Fran, as Amanda couldn't sense magic on her, now that the illusion was gone, but then who was this second Fran who she could sense magic all around?

No explanation came as the now pair of Fran's rushed in to attack, while Art returned to her old job of ranged support.

Switching her weapon to her left hand she started to do her best to hold off both of the black cats who were now taking advantage of their numbers to limit her movements and attack her from both sides, and the while having to dodge incoming magic attacks. It wasn't until Amanda managed to strike the real Fran and the copycat also flinched that Amanda realized what she was dealing with.

A [Body Split] skill. Fran had a [Body Split] skill.

This was not good. Fighting two on one was hard enough, but her various detection skills, high mobility and high weapon skills made her a hard counter to Art's [Illusion Magic] and basic [Sword Arts]. But fighting two Fran's, who had [Divine Sword Arts], was much more challenging. Even if she was having difficulties in controlling both bodies at once, she had enough skill with it to cause Amanda serious problems. Adding to Amanda's issues was the injure she took to her dominant arm and leg.

Things went from bad to worse when Fran's Doppelganger allowed Amanda's whip to latch onto her sword, before letting go of it in order to grab onto the whip with both hands. Eyes widening, Amanda pumped up her own strength and swung the whip around, trying to get the clone to let go, until Fran's real body jumped in and grabbed on as well. The two of her used all their combined strength in order to match Amanda's own. Then Amanda received another shock, literally, as the Frans both activated Lightning [Elemental Weapon], sending a current of electricity up the whip to shock Amanda. The A-rank Adventurer didn't take any damage at all, due to her high [Lightning Resistance], but the attack had weakened her grip just enough for the Frans to pull the weapon out from between her fingers.

'''Art, now!''' Fran's two bodies shouted as one.

"In Madness there is Sense! In Death there is New Life! Be the power which ushers Change into this Stagnant World! [Pandemonium Bomb]!" Art shouted as she let off a much more powerful attack then before. The giant sphere of black and white energy descending towards Amanda's head from on high.

...In a burst of speed that took the girls by surprise, Amanda moved out of the way of the attack, and rushed Art yet again. Fran would have pursued, taking advantage of Amanda's turned back, but the girl(s) was not prepared for Amanda's ability to remotely control the whip, even when it had left her head. The cable jumped to life, wrapping around Fran's two bodies, binding them together before she understood what was happening. Art was helpless as Amanda reached and subdued her as well, all before the girl's spell hit the ground with a devastating *BOOM*.

If that had managed to hit Amanda, she would have had to use her [Grace of the Spirits] for sure.

"Fuhahaha, you girls did pretty well. I can't remember the last time someone managed to hit me in a spar." Amanda laughed, though it was an understatement. She couldn't even remember the last time someone had managed to make her move in a spar. So long as you didn't count her fight with Archer as a spar. Even when fighting against four or five of the Guild's B-rank Adventurers at once, they couldn't FORCE her to move the way that these two girls had.

What in the world was Archer feeding them?

"I thought we had her." "Not stunned." "Not paralyzed." Art and the two Frans said with the most adorable of pouts.

"Sorry girls, but I've fought more than my fair share of thunderbirds over the years. I've got a bit of a resistance to the lightning element and equipment to protect me from it." Amanda giggled.

"I demand a rematch!" "Will win this time." "Won't be caught off guard."

[You two did well.] Archer chuckled. Amanda felt regenerated as someone cast [Healing Magic] on her. The wounds on her arm and leg closed up and she felt her spent stamina returning. [That sneak attack of yours was well executed, but don't get too full of yourselves. She's fighting at a greater disadvantage then just being two against one. Amanda doesn't even have her preferred weapon, and the one is using now can't even be called second rate.]

"Are you serious!?" "Nn!" "Nn!"

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but yes. This is my backup weapon, not my main one, and it is a lot weaker." Amanda said, with a goofy smile. Not even second rate? Yeah it wasn't anywhere near as good as her primary weapon, but it still a high class weapon.

[Let this be a lesson to the both of you as to how far you have to go. Amanda isn't the only A-rank out there, and there are S-ranks that are even higher than her. If you want to reach the top of the mountain, you will have to keep giving it your all.] Archer said, earning a nod from the two (three) girls. [Fran, how are you holding up? Is [Split Thought] still giving you a headache?]

The Fran's shook their heads. "Two brains fixed problem." One of them reported.

[Good to hear.]

[Split Body], [Split Thought], [Dimensional Storage], just how many super rare skills did Fran have?

[Miss Amanda, you might want to drink a mana potion.] Archer said, surprising the woman. [Fran's [Body Split] skill lasts for 50 minutes and has a 1 day cooldown, so it is best to get all the training she can in while it is still active.]

"Wait, we are going to be sparring for 50 more minutes?" Amanda said in surprise.

[Don't be ridiculous… we will be out here for another two hours at the very least. After that will be lunch, followed by the post lunch warm ups and instructional training and then more sparring.]

"...Huh?" Amanda said, not entirely believing what she was hearing.

...Well, it was a good thing she had [Exhaustion Resistance] Lv6.


	26. Chapter 26

"Come on Carol, can't you get me a discount?" Amanda begged from the Blacksmith's Guild's receptionist after taking her whips in to the guild to get them repaired, having totaled her backup whip as well after four whole hours of sparring, with Amanda pushing both it and herself harder and harder in order to try to keep up appearances in front of the two children, hoping to give them a good role model to work towards.

She wouldn't say she had never been more tired in her life, but it was definitely the most exhausted she had been in the last ten years. If Fran trained like that all the time, she could understand how the girl had grown to be so strong at such a young age. Even after a single day of that insane training, Amanda was starting to see results.

Nell had been shocked when Amanda had returned to the guild hall late that afternoon, informing her that almost all of her stats had gone up by more than a point since that morning and that her [Divine Whip Art] had ranked up for the first time in ten years.

Not only was the sparring intense, but Archer's instructions were amazing as well. Amanda was almost completely self-trained, and had never heard of this advanced energy manipulation exercises that used stretching and meditation to open up the flow of mana in your muscles. Just twenty minutes of stretching herself out caused Amanda to suddenly gain the [Combat Qigong] skill at its first level. And his lecture about the use of 'self-hypnosis' in magic was… confusing, but informative. Even his knowledge of the [Whip Arts] seemed to exceed Amanda's own.

Then there was the food… god the food. Archer's cooking was threatening to give Amanda an inferiority complex about her qualifications as a mother figure. It was no wonder that Art called him 'mom'.

Amanda had enjoyed and benefited from her time playing with Fran and Art, and had been convinced that Archer's unusual training methods were worth the cost… until she was actually told the cost of simply meeting the Spirit.

"Amanda, 5 million is just the cost for the Mana Crystals we would need to perform the repair. It's not even taking into account finding someone even capable of doing it." Caroline said as she looked at Amanda's priced weapon, a weapon she had for fifteen years. "You know that the material cost and difficulty of the [Repair] spell doubles every time you have to do it. You've repaired this thing so many times, and it was an expensive piece of equipment to begin with. I'm sorry, I don't know if we have a Blacksmith capable of doing the repair. You'll have to go to the Alchemist's Guild and try to buy enough Repairing Potion to fix it that way."

"You've got to be kidding, that would cost…"

"About 500 million gorudos, if you want to repair it to its top condition." Carol supplied.

500 million gorudos. Enough money to keep a hundred orphanages open for a year. It was more money than even Amanda made in five year working as an A-rank Adventurer. As much as the weapon meant to Amanda, she couldn't possibly justify the expense. If she couldn't find a Blacksmith capable of doing it with just normal Mana Crystals, it would be FAR too expensive.

If she couldn't get her main weapon fixed, it was doubtful she would be able to keep outstripping Fran and Art's growth for long. And even if she got it fixed, she would just work it into the ground again trying to keep up with the pair.

"What am I going to do?" Amanda said, letting her head flop down onto the front desk of the Blacksmith's Guild as she started to blubber like a baby about it, earning a half sigh out of Carol.

"The only Blacksmith around who might be able to fix it would be Gallus… and maybe Merlin."

"Merlin, who's he?" Amanda asked. Gallus was a familiar name, but she couldn't remember anyone named Merlin.

"That is a damn good question." Carol said with a sigh. "Honestly, we don't know who he is. All I can say is that he is a pain in my ass who popped up around two weeks ago and suddenly started to flood the market with top quality magic weapons, being sold for ridiculously low prices. Even though the Guild has made a large fortune off the guy, if his behavior continues, the economy is going to completely collapse. But the idiot doesn't even get it. He keeps insisting that the weapons he sells us are low quality. One of the weapons he sold us was a named weapon. He SOLD a goddamn NAMED WEAPON for 500,000, claiming it was a piece of crap! Can you believe that!?"

"Um… If this is a bad time, I can come back later."

Carol turned her head to see a man with bronze skin and white hair standing in the doorway of the Guild Hall, just one step in and with the door still open. "Speak of the devil. Get your ass over here Merlin. I've got something we need you to take a look at."

Amanda turned her head as the man walked into the room, letting the door close behind him. She felt like she had heard his voice somewhere before, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. When she first saw him, she thought he was a handsome individual… then she noticed how his entire body was made out of magical energy, and things clicked into place. "It you!?" Amanda shouted, pointing accusingly at the man.

While he seemed weaker than before, and his body shape didn't match, she easily recognized his magic energy. It wasn't like there were a lot of people like him walking about.

"What a surprise to run into you here." The Spirit said, not sounding surprised at all. His voice was easily recognizable now that she was paying attention. "I'm guessing you are here about repairing your weapons."

"That's right. I'm in this mess because of the weapon YOU broke. Do you know how much it is going to cost me to get it fixed?" Amanda grumbled angrily.

"I've been told I have a very loose understanding of the value of money. Besides, I did warn you that you were overworking it and you chose to ignore my advice." 'Merlin' said as he approached.

"You two know each other?" Carol asked, glancing back and forth between them.

"Sort of." The man said, glancing over at the weapon in question and shaking his head, trying to ignore the angry pout that Amanda was giving him.

"...Anyways, do you think your [Smithing Magic] is strong enough to [Repair] it?" Carol asked, while keeping a curious eye on Amanda's reaction. She usually didn't act like this except for with close friends and children.

Carol wasn't the only one looking. The guild hall wasn't empty at the moment and an A-rank Adventurer tended to attract attention.

"I do, but it would cost more resources than it's worth, and only a temporary solution at best." Archer said with a shake of the head. "While the weapon is of a passable quality, it is clear that the one who made it was focusing solely on its utility in battle and didn't spare any thought for maintainability or how hard it would actually be used. 1000 Durability isn't terrible, if you don't hammer the thing with [Elemental Weapon] and [Divine Whip Techniques]. Since whips have so little effective room for adding runes on the hilt, the one who made it shouldn't have wasted his time with [Control Weight] and instead given the weapon better resistances to Amanda's own skills. Even if I did use [Repair] on it, it would be back to this state again after ten more minutes of hard use. The best thing I can suggest is to just replace it with a more studdy one."

"...But…" Amanda mumbled her shoulders dropping.

"You're being too sentimental. A weapon is nothing more than a tool, to be used until it is no longer of any use, before being discarded and replaced." The few Blacksmiths in the room who had heard him say that immediately gave the man death glares, though their glares were nothing compared to Amanda's.

"I'm not going to discard it!" Amanda shouted at the Spirit, letting some killing intent leak out, frightening poor Carol from mere proximity. "If you aren't going to help me, I'll just find someone else who will!"

"...You're like a spoiled child who never listens." Archer said with a tired sigh, not at all intimidated, before looking to the receptionist. "Is it possible for you to get your hands on a Draught of Arcane Soul? It doesn't have to be a high quality one. Even the cheapest would do."

"Ah, the Guild doesn't usually carry that kind of thing, but I can probably get one from the Alchemists if you got an hour to wait." Carol replied, edging away from Amanda.

"Alright then, I won't waste the Mana Crystals required to perform a [Repair] spell ritual on the weapon, but I can modify it a little for you and install an [Instantaneous Recovery] effect."

""You can do that!?"" The half of the room that had been listening in on their conversation shouted at once.

"It's not hard. I just need to strip the old reduced runic set and replace it with a compound runic set in order to make room for the extra enchantment, then create an artificial skill that is streamlined to reconstruct the whips body, and add the skill to the weapon's soul using an [Alteration] spell with a runic ancher. I've already done something like it a hundred times before." Archer said, in his usual confusing way that left the other Blacksmiths asking each other if they had a clue what the man had just said. "So, will Her Majesty be content with that, or do I also need to make it capable of bending time and space as well?"

Amanda scowled at the man's confident smirk, though she could feel some heat coming to her face. "How much is it going to cost me?"

"Simply pay for the Draught of Arcane Soul and I'll perform the service on the house." Archer said.

"I see." Amanda said before looking to Caroline, who immediately knew what the Adventurer was looking for.

"A basic Draught of Arcane Soul costs about 50,000."

"So cheap." Amanda said in surprise. Not only would it repair Amanda's weapon for 1/100th the cost, it would also mean that she would never have to worry about the cost in the future and wouldn't have to hold back out of fear of damaging her weapon.

"It will take a little bit of time to set up. Until then, you can use this." Archer said, pulling a long silver whip out of thin air. It was beautifully made, with each thread seeming to have been made of shining mithril… because it was. "It's offense isn't as strong as yours is, but it has a much higher durability, and has both wind and impact resistance, so you don't have to worry about breaking it.

"There you go again Merlin. First you sell weapons for a fraction of their real value, now you are performing upgrades and loaning people high-tier weaponry for free." Carol grumbled.

"Um… yes… loaning."

"MERLIN…!" Carol growled as the man rubbed the back of his neck.

"You know, most people would say that getting in good with an A-rank Adventurer is its own form of payment." Archer said, making excuses.

Carol took in a deep breath and then sighed. "Are you even sure you can do it? The [Instantaneous Recovery] effect is notoriously hard to produce, one step beyond even the [Self-Repair] effect."

"Then it is a logical progression, considering I've already created a weapon with the [Self-Repair] effect." Archer said before pulling out a pair of beautiful black and white swords, decorated with the silhouettes of cats.

"That's…" Carol stammered, her jaw dropping as she stared at the weapons. "You… you aren't going to try to tell me that those are second rate too, are you?"

"No… they're passable."

* * *

Amanda and Archer sat together in the Guild Hall as they watched for Carol to fetch what Archer had requested, with Archer providing some snacks from his [Dimensional Storage].

"Aren't you going to eat any?" Amanda asked after she finished off her fifth cookie.

"My kind don't need to eat. We sustain ourselves on mana. It would taste like sand in my mouth and actually leave me feeling drained instead of refreshed." Archer said with a shake of the head. They had put up an area of silence around them, so they didn't need to worry about being overheard.

"Is that so. Yet you still are able to cook like this?" Amanda said as she wiped away crumbs from her mouth.

"It has long been a hobby of mine." Archer said with a satisfied shrug.

"So tell me, is Merlin your real name or is it Archer?" Amanda asked.

"Neither. I already told you that I have no name." Archer said with a shake of the head. "I am what is called a Heroic Spirit, a Spirit born from legends about heroes... and villains. Since no one remembers the name of the man who preformed the deeds that gave birth to my legend, I remain nameless. Because of that, I just use my job class as a name. Just like other spirits are categorized based on what elements they are, Heroic Spirits are often called by their chosen method of fighting, things like Saber, Rider, Caster, Berserker. I just happen to be an Archer."

"For on Archer, you sure seem to like swords." Amanda said, giving him a look.

"I get that a lot." Archer said with a smile. He had been told the same by more Servants than he cared to count.

"So why did Carol call you Merlin?"

"I was already teasing the Old Elf with the name Archer, so I needed a different identity to run around with. Merlin was just a name that felt appropriate." Archer said with a chuckle. "You see, 'Merlin' was the name of a powerful wizard who is famous where I came from. He was a man who was born from a nun and a incubus, a sort of male sex demon. The man went on a lot of misadventures and caused headaches for a lot of people."

"And that is the name you picked? That's pretty self-aware of you." Amanda said, a little cheekily.

"Well, that isn't the reason why I took the name, but I can't exactly deny that I at least attract trouble." Archer chuckled. "The reason I picked 'Merlin' was because of the most famous story involving him, where he created an extremely powerful magical sword and then used it to trick a country into accepting a young girl as their god chosen king. Not that anyone ever realized that the unbeatable King of Knights was a woman."

"You're talking about Fran, aren't you?" Amanda asked, to which Archer nodded.

"Merlin knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that he was changing that young girl's fate, and the hardships she would have to face because of what he had done, and he accepted the guilt that came with it. In a world where Arturia was raised alone upon a platform, practically deified by everyone around her, where everyone thanked her for every victory and blamed her for every misfortune, Merlin alone stood beside her, not as a subject, but as a friend and a mentor. While he was a giant pain in her ass, he supported her until the end, and even after." Archer said, looking out into the distance. "I am Fran's Merlin. I have changed her fate, knowing well the hardships that lie ahead of her. She doesn't know it yet, but her Evolution will be only the beginner of her story. The hard parts are what come after."

Amanda watched Archer closely as he stared off into space. She knew somewhat about what he was talking about, having experienced it for herself.

If Fran… When Fran evolved, she would be thrust out into the spotlight, with the whole world's eyes on her. With everyone wishing to use her for their own gains. She will be forced to live a life where she cannot trust anyone, where she will have to suspect everyone of wearing a mask. Amanda could remember all the times she had been taken advantage of, when she had first become an A-rank Adventurer. Even so, Amanda had had old friendships and people who she could depend on, and while A-rank individuals gathered attention, they were not unique. With Fran, who will be the first of her race to evolve, it will be even worse.

Archer said that he was a Heroic Spirit, born from a legend. Amanda wondered what kind of hardships he had to endure, if he had been made to carry them on his own. What kind of life caused a man to talk the way he did, to have such a melodically look in his eyes.

She wondered about these things, until the man started to snort with laughter. "Huh… what? What are you laughing about?" Amanda asked, flustered by his sudden outburst.

"Sorry. Fran and Art are on an escort job and the man who hired them is starting to get annoyed that the woman he was trying to flirt with is far more interested in the girls than in him." Archer said as he struggled to gain control of himself. "He's taken the girls aside to yell at the pair for not doing their job properly, and Art is using her [Wind Magic] to let the young lady hear every word he is saying, only the guy doesn't know it."

"Huh?" Amanda said, trying to process what Archer had just told her. "Wait, you are monitoring the girls right now?"

"Yes. I stopped letting them run around town without me at least paying a little bit of attention to them after Fran came home one night with the 'Lady Killer' title."

"SHE WHAT!?" Amanda shouted, loud enough for people to hear her, even through the silencing spell. "How!? Why!? I know she's the cutest thing there is but… what?"

"I have no idea. I wasn't paying attention that day, but I've made sure to keep an eye on them to make sure something like that ever happens again." Archer said with a sigh. "So tell me, how does an Adventurer end up running an orphanage?"

* * *

Archer and Amanda made small talk for the next hour and a half as they waited for the materials Archer needed, exchanging stories. Amanda could have left at any time, but she didn't really have anywhere she needed to be and Archer's stories were entertaining.

Admittedly, most of Archer's stories ended up not being about himself, but about other Heroic Spirits, but Amanda didn't mind. She had never heard any of the legends he spoke of, and he had a good story telling voice, so she was easily drawn in. Many of the stories were tragic, while others were so funny that Amanda couldn't help but to laugh.

But eventually, the topic of conversation returned to Fran. "She was a slave." Amanda said, her voice hollow after she managed to pry the story of how he had met the girl out of Archer.

She had been holding on to a faint hope that Archer had found the little girl immediately after the death of her parents, that he had been protecting her these last four years. Only, that hadn't been the case. Fran had spent four years, four long years, as a slave. Amanda's long ears drooped as she thought about the poor girl, and the things she had to go through.

Sighing, Archer reached over the small table and put a finger to the woman's forehead, pushing her head up. "What happened happened, and crying about it now won't do anyone any good, so chin up. Even if you weren't able to be there for her in the past, it is the future that counts. In the years to come, she will need your help, but you won't be of any use to anyone if all you do is sit around feeling guilty."

Amanda felt herself flush a bit as he looked at her, his finger on her forehead. "Hey Archer, I have a question. When we met in that forest, you seemed smaller. Was that your real appear, or is this what you really look like?"

"Well, this is what the man whose legend I am based on looked like, and is the most natural form for me. However, Heroic Spirits were never meant to appear in this world, so in order to manifest, I need to use a bunch of tricks in order to slip by the World's defenses." Archer explained "While I can take on my true form at its full strength, it is a huge drain that I can't keep up. So instead I have to limit my own power or use a different form in order to let myself manifest for longer periods of time."

"So, this is what you really look like."

"In a sense, yes." Archer replied before frowning. "You did make sure to rest after yesterday's training, right? It feels like you're running a fever."

"I'm fine!" Amanda said quickly, pushing away his hand. His words made her blush even deeper.

"...If you say so, but make sure to take care of your health."

The two stopped talking as Carol passed through the barrier of silence. "Alright, one Draught of Arcane Soul and the rest of the crap you order." She said as she dropped a crate full of stuff in front of Archer.

"Alright. I guess I should be getting to work." Archer said as he got up, moving everything into his [Dimensional Storage]. "It was nice talking to you, Amanda. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you around." Amanda said, still trying to regain control over herself. "I should be getting back to the orphanage too." Amanda sighed after Archer was out of sight, getting up from her seat.

"Oh no you don't!" Carol said, latching on to the A-rank Adventurer. "You aren't going anywhere until you give me this scoop. What's going on between you and Merlin?"

"Huh!?" Amanda cried out, her entire ears going red.


	27. Chapter 27

"Oh, you two are so cute!" Nell squealed as Fran and Art showed off their new armor to the receptionist.

"Thanks, I guess." Art mumbled, kicking her foot a little. "I just wish mom had used our design for Fran's outfit."

[Armor was meant to be used in battle to defend one's life. No loose belts, no capes, and absolutely NO uncovered vitals.] Archer mentally snapped at the girl as he was reminded of the 'design' that the girls and Gallus had tried to sell him on.

Archer had sworn at Gallus until he was left crying in a corner after seeing the 'armor' that he was suggesting, hoping to disillusion the dwarf about his failed understanding of what armor was. Gallus attempted to defend himself, claiming the less than minimalist armor design to be a common base among Beastkin, who enjoyed the feel of wind against their skin.

Fran had admittedly expressed such a preference, and Archer tolerated it in her casual clothes, allowing her to wear tank tops and shorts that he found to be rather too short for her age around town, but he would never allow such a thing on the battlefield. And even this tolerance Archer was rethinking after Amanda told Fran and Art that the method that she had used to train her [Wind Magic] involved 'bathing in the wind', prompting the two to strip naked and go running through the forest. Honestly, what was that whimsical woman thinking, telling those girls that.

Honestly, Archer was starting to have his suspicions about the old dwarf and his practices. Not suspicions of pedophilia or anything like that. Gallus would already be dead if Archer believed that he had viewed his children with such eyes. No, Archer suspected that Gallus might make his design choices based on an item's appearance over its function.

He was right, of course, that there were enchantments that would stretch the defensive properties of the armor to guard even uncovered areas, Archer was already planning on making use of them, but experience had taught him better than to depend on them. There were all kinds of attacks that could be deflected by physical armor that could easily penetrate that kind of protection. Not to mention the tiny breast plate that hardly covered the entire chest and shoulders wouldn't have been able to hold as many enchantments as a more covering set. But this wasn't even the most questionable of his choices.

Archer shouted at him for a solid minute about his complete waste of the limited amount of enchantments an item can hold when he found out that the man wanted to implement things like [Automatic Stain Removing], [Automatic Deodorizer] and [Pleasant Sleeping], sacrificing valuable space that could be used to further boost the defensive capabilities of the armor. Honestly, stain removal, deodorizer? They had [Purification Magic] for that kind of stuff. And did he honestly expect the girls to sleep in their armor? Even if the situation required them to sleep in a dungeon, that isn't the kind of place you want to sleep deeply in.

No. While Archer would make sure the armor was comfortable enough to move around in, all day long if necessary, he wouldn't sacrifice its quality to do so. While he allowed Fran and Art to keep their skirts, there were full leggings underneath them, and their chest plates were made to cover all vitals without the loss of flexibility.

Archer also gave the armors a function to allow them to change into an astral form, allowing them to equip them at a moment's notice, similar to the way a Servant could with their own weapons and armor. So that the girls could walk around in whatever clothes they wanted outside of a combat zone while still having their best armor on hand at the drop of a hat.

On top of her chestplate, Art had a dark blue long sleeved leather jacket to protect her arms, with the eight pointed compass that was the symbol of the Goddess of Chaos on her back, in the middle of a large magic circle, that while it looked like it was just for decoration, actually allowed for the girl's wings to pass through the material if she dropped her [Racial Mimicry], and even her metal hair ties held a strong magical enchantment to protect the girl from mental attacks.

Meanwhile, Fran had requested that Archer allow the cape style of mantle to be replaced by a black mantle that wrap closely around the arms, similar to the one he used, only with a hood shaped for her cat ears, with fur trimmings. It was with a mixture of flattery and annoyance that Archer gave in, as hoods were not something he normally approved of.

In the end, the girls did look cute in their new outfits, but they hadn't been exactly what Art had wanted. But while Fran had simply accepted this, the Demoness had cried about it until Amanda chose to take Archer's side, telling the girls that while appearance was important to a high-ranking Adventurer, their lives were far more important. While her own armor set had its appeals, no vulnerable area was left exposed. It was only after that that Art started to quiet down, though she was still pouting about it.

Archer openly admitted that Art's designs had been cuter, but in the end, defense was what mattered the most, and these armor sets would let the girls even take direct hits from something like the B-rank Demon without being instantly killed. They were significantly stronger than the armor of everyone else around, even Amanda's, with well over triple the total defense of the set that Gallus had sold them.

Archer poured everything he knew into those armor sets, using the full extent of his knowledge of armor crafting methods spanning several thousand years, knowledge that far surpassed anything that the locals could accomplish with their [Magic Tailoring] skills. He made use of all the best materials from the strongest parts of the monsters that they had on hand, and even dipping into his very limited supply of the legendary Orichalcum to make sure that the armor was as powerful as could be. He had dumped almost 40,000 units of mana into the creation of each set. Almost double the amount of mana that could be generated by all the other members of the Adventurer's Guild combined and enough mana to create over a hundred High-Quality Magic Swords.

They were armor sets worthy of a Servant.

* * *

Name: Little Demon's Set | Defense : 600 | Endurance : 9000/9000 | Effect: Mental Stability ↑, Mental Attack Resistance (High), Impact Resistance ↑ (High), Slashing Resistance ↑ (High), Piercing Resistance ↑ (High), Arm Strength ↑ (High), Leg Strength ↑ (High), Agility ↑ (High), Poison Resistance (High), HP Recovery ↑ (High), Noise Tolerance ↑ (High), Elemental Resistance ↑ (High), Cold Resistance ↑ (High), Heat Resistance ↑ (High), Conceal Heat, Muffle Sound, Equipment Self-Repair, Instantaneous Recovery, Magic Resistance ↑ (Medium), Abnormal Status Resistance ↑ (Medium), Principle of an Element (Mirror) Lv3, Darkness Amplifier, Darkness Reinforcement, Automatic Magic Barrier Lv3, Astral Transfer, Appraisal Cover

Special Skill: Demonic Harmony

* * *

Name: Black Cat's Set | Defense : 630 | Endurance : 9600/9600 | Effect: Mental Stability ↑, Mental Attack Resistance (High), Impact Resistance ↑ (High), Slashing Resistance ↑ (High), Piercing Resistance ↑ (High), Arm Strength ↑ (High), Leg Strength ↑ (High), Agility ↑ (High), Poison Resistance (High), HP Recovery ↑ (High), Noise Tolerance ↑ (High), Elemental Resistance ↑ (High), Cold Resistance ↑ (High), Heat Resistance ↑ (High), Conceal Heat, Muffle Sound, Equipment Self-Repair, Instantaneous Recovery, Magic Resistance ↑ (Medium), Abnormal Status Resistance ↑ (Medium), Principle of an Element (Mirror) Lv5, Moon Phase Empowerment Lv4, Physical Reinforcement, Astral Transfer, Appraisal Cover

Special Skill: Black Cat's Divine Protection

* * *

"Oh, I almost forgot, the Guild Master was calling for the two of you." Nell said, surprising the two girls.

"In trouble?" Fran asked.

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to talk to you about a mission." Nell giggled at the child's assumption.

She wouldn't be giggling if she saw what the pair did to the City Knights' barracks after a group of them had gotten onto the two for their 'attitude problems'. Archer had been too impressed by the pairs enginuity to stop them, as they turned their headquarters into a swamp, while the knights were still in there, without getting caught.

It was good practice for the girls, and hoped it would serve as an equality valuable lesson to those men on guard about the importance of remaining vigilant.

"That's okay then. We'll head on over and see what the bossman wants." Art said, putting her hands behind her head and starting towards the Guild Master's office, along with Fran. "You want to knock or should I?"

Fran started to slam her hand against the door, causing it to rattle.

"Hey! Who is it! Such rude knocking!" The Guild Master's voice came from inside.

"Came." It wasn't an invitation in, but it was close enough for Fran who simply pushed the door open and walked inside.

"Ah, it was you two. How should I say this… If you enter before being invited in from the inside, then there's no point in knocking." Klimt said, giving a tired sigh as his two favorite headaches marched into the room.

"You called for us, bossman!?" Art said with a teasing grin, not acknowledging the man's complaint.

"Yes, I suppose I did. It has to do with a commission that I would like for you girls to accept." Klimt said, motioning for the girl's to take a seat. "Even though his letter was still sealed when you gave it to me, I have no doubt that you know it's contents."

"...Letter?" Fran said with a tilt of the head.

"...The letter you took from Augusto Alsund four days ago."

"...Not ringing any bells." Art admitted, crossing her arms and scrunching up her face.

"The former Vice Captain of the City Knights. The one who was killed… by you." Klimt tried again. Surprisingly, even this didn't jog the girls' memory. To be fair, he wasn't that memorable, other than the degree to which he was a disgusting piece of garbage.

[He's talking about the man whose bed you stole.] Archer helpfully reminded them.

"Oh yeah, that fat guy… There was a letter?" Art said, sort of kind of remembering.

Klimt just stared at the pair, his jaw open in mute shock, before he just sighed yet again. "Alright, then let me put it like this. The guild has received an 'anonymous' tip off that someone might have tampered with the Guild exclusive dungeon, Cobwebs, smuggling magic food into it in order to call the monsters inside to evolve. This tip has already been confirmed to be accurate, and the man within the Guild who was responsible has already been apprehended. I'd like for the two of you to join in an expedition into the dungeon in order to put things back into the right order."

"Kill everything?" Fran asked the man.

"Not everything, but at least enough to reduce the threat level back down to normal. If you can track down most of the evolved individuals it should be enough." Klimt explained. "You will be joined on this job by three other teams, one C-rank team and two E-rank teams who will be there in order to take their promotion exam. The examinees will not have been informed of any changes in the dungeon."

"Huh, why not?" Art asked with a tilt of her head. "Isn't it supposed to be dangerous?"

"Because, how one reacts to and prepared for the unexpected says a lot about their capabilities as an Adventurer. So long as the Trap Spiders have only evolved into Trick Spiders, then it shouldn't be too dangerous." The Guild Master said with a shrug. "The Trick Spiders are E-rank Monsters, so the C-rank party should be able to handle keeping everyone safe… That isn't to say you should be careless. There is the chance that one of the monsters has evolved all the way up to being a Trickster Spider."

"Strong?"

"Not really, if you compare it to the higher tier of monsters in the Demon Wolf Plains. As far as stats go, they are only at the D-rank level. However their ability to create and manipulate magical traps makes them as dangerous as any C-rank Demonic Beast. That is one reason that I wish for Fran to be the one to go, since she has such a high [Magic Detection] skill and the [Magic Concealment] skill, magical traps should be no problem for her, making her perfect for the job." Klimt said lacing his fingers together. "It will also have the added benefit of silencing those who are making noise about your rise to D-rank."

"Huh? I thought we crushed everyone who was complaining." Art said with a scowl.

"There were complaints?" Fran said. She honestly hadn't noticed that there were people trying to mess with her out of jealousy, since it was not really any different than her normal everyday dealings with people, [Blessing of the Chaos Goddess] being what it was.

"Well, as you might now, many of our Adventurers were not around to experience your… training… since they were at the Haunt when you first arrived. And since you got back you have been training with Amanda outside of the city walls." Klimt said, struggling to call what Fran and Art did to those people 'training'. It actually made Archer feel all warm and tingly inside. "Because of this, many Adventurers have started to voice their disapproval at your rise through the ranks, especially those who have been stuck at the E-rank for a long time. Some among them are spreading unfounded rumors, like you bought your Rank with money, or that I have preferences for little girls and have been charmed by you." This last statement caused the man to start twitching angrily and Archer could practically see his blood pressure rising as he started to mumble to himself. "There is no way that I prefer little girls! Good grief, spare me please. To begin with I prefer…"

"I don't get it. Can't we just beat them all up? You know, like we did before. Seems like that would be a lot quicker." Art said, scratching her head.

"I already asked you two to stop doing that." Klimt said after hearing Art's suggestion. "Besides, some are still saying that you shouldn't be promoted on strength alone, as being an Adventurer is more than just about combat."

"You're right. It's also about figuring out ways to get back at your ungrateful clients for leaving a negative review even when you did your job." Art said with a sage like nod.

"...I thought you said you wouldn't do that anymore."

"Promised to not get caught." Fran replied.

"...Please, just take the job." Klimt said, his energy starting to run out.

(Guild Master: desperate. We have the position of power.) Fran said telepathically to Art as her stolen [Commerce] skill kicked in.

(Good thinking.) Art thought back cheerfully, those on the surface she showed complete disinterest. "Well, I don't really see why we should. Sounds like all this stuff is your problem, not ours, since we are planning on leaving in a few days anyways."

"Do… don't say that. I'm sure I can make it worth your will." Klimt said, looking extremely worried.

It was the truth, that they were planning on leaving in just a few days. Archer had finished Fran's armor the day before, so it would be another full day and a half before his [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] skill was off cooldown again. Originally, he was planning to make his attempt at creating a Godblade after that, but that plan ran into… a problem.

Part of his strategy for creating extremely powerful equipment was to use the refresh to his MP whenever he ranked up, alongside his [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] to produce 10x his normal amount of mana, in order to fuel the creation of much more powerful effects. Which was currently comparable to a Servant with A+ Mana spending it all at once, showing just how powerful a substance Orichalcum was. No ordinary material would have been able to survive it.

Sadly, it cost a lot of Magic Stone Points to force a Rank Up, and after creating Fran's armor set, Archer found that he was running low. He would need another 500 Mana Stone Points if he wanted to Rank Up again, which wouldn't normally be a problem, save for the fact that they had completely drained the local market of all surplus stones. It wouldn't matter how much Archer offered to buy them for, they just didn't exist, and with the city not exactly being a mature trade hub, it would be a while before the local marketplace recovered from just how many stones Archer had taken out of it. Something that Caroline was absolutely livid with Archer about.

They could stick around, continue to train with Amanda, perhaps go back to the Demon Wolf Plains to find some more Magic Stones, but Fran herself said that she wanted to leave sooner rather than later.

This place was becoming too comfortable for her, too much like a home. She was afraid that if she stayed too long, that she would lose the will to continue. As much as she was enjoying her time with the Guild and with Nell and Amanda, she wouldn't be able to live happily if she didn't pursue her evolution, and the longer she stayed, the more it would hurt when she had to leave. Archer understood that better than anyone.

That said, the mention of the dungeon caught her interest. While it was unlikely that her and Art would level up there, it seemed like a fun experience and it would have the possibility of getting new trap based Skills and more Magic Stones. So while the pair were dangled the threat of simply abandoning Klimt to his label as a lolicon, it was clear enough to Archer that they would eventually accept the man's proposal. They would just first milk the man for all he was worth to them.

Archer really was raising a pair of terrors.

So far, Klimt was offering to count it as three separate missions, the D-rank mission that was the promotion examination, a C-rank mission for investigating the dungeon for clues, and a B-rank mission for the extermination of evolved specimens. Not only would this mean they would be paid three times for a single job, but it would be counted towards their future promotions, something that was actually rather interesting.

The C-rank was when Adventurers would be given their Silver Adventurer IDs, which granted them special privileges. It was kind of like being named a diplomat to the Adventurer's Guild, not really nobility, but it still came with wealth, power and percs, if you were good at your job. Reaching the Rank would allow the girls quite a bit of freedom, since it basically offered diplomatic immunity with the backing of the Adventurer's Guild.

Few countries were willing to pick a fight with the Adventurer's Guild as if the Guild decided to abandon them, they would be forced to deal with the dangers of the world alone. Only a few of the larger countries could survive such a thing, and not without serious consequences. Even Kings wouldn't mess with a C-rank or higher Adventurer without reason.

From that point on, the only thing they would have to worry about would be other Adventurers, so long as they didn't commit any crime worthy of the Adventurer's Guild letting the country take them.

Still, the girl's played down their interest, saying that being part of the Guild at all was just a passing fancy and that they didn't necessarily need the rank, and that 'mom' provided them with more money than they knew what to do with. Which was true, with most people considering a good Magic Sword to be more valuable than a house. Normally, the cost of materials and time needed to make these weapons would drag down the profits, but Archer could make them out of scrap iron and weaker monster parts in just a few hours, so he had made quite a lot of money in the last few weeks. More than he really knew what to do with. He was currently sitting on around 400,000,000 gorudos, or 30,000,000 USD. So money was not likely to ever be an issue.

Seeing that money, mission credit and letters of recommendation wouldn't be enough, Klimt brought out something that did catch the girl's attention, Magic Stones. The man poured out a bag containing 20 Magic Stones of D or C-rank quality which were harvested from rare monsters and offered to give 2 of them to the girl's if they accepted… to which they managed to barter him up to giving them 7. Enough to get Archer to the next Rank.

Archer almost felt sorry for the man as he watched. It was just sad, watching a 136 year old elf being bullied by a pair of little girls. It only got sadder as Amanda kicked the door down and informed him that she had been listening in and would be joining as well.

Klimt's head hit his desk. Today just wasn't his day.

* * *

Self-Evolving:

(Rank 12 | Memory 112 | Points 121) → (Rank 14 | Magic Stone Value 10018/10500 | Memory 139 | Points 256)

ATK: 620 → 726 MP: 4150 → 5500 Durability: 3950 → 5300 Mana Channel: A+

**Archer is starting to accumulate points... and I'm actually not sure what to even do with them. He simply doesn't normally need them.**

* * *

**Some people are probably going to be disappointed about the outfits, but it's Archer. He isn't going to put fashion over functionality. **


	28. Chapter 28

The next day, Fran, Art, Amanda, and the 9 poor souls picked to bare witness to them all gathered together at the Guild Hall. The E-rank Adventurers seemed surprised by the number of people who came up to give them their condolences. Donna even came up to give them some inspirational words as a sort of send off, all before the C-rank party who would be the test administrators ever showed up, after which they were all made to swore with [Oath Magic] not to disclose top secret information before continuing out of the city before they were even given a proper mission briefing, starting with introductions.

"Now then, let's take this chance to introduce ourselves. My name is Cruz. I'm the leader of the C Rank party "Azure Guard" to which these two, Rigg and Izel, are members of. For this commission, I'll be acting as your instructor as well as your examiner." The blond young man said, introducing himself as his team. Archer cringed at the mere sight of him, as he looked and acted almost exactly like Gawain.

Archer didn't like Gawain, partly because the arrogant bastard accused him of being unskilled with a sword, but more because of his stupidity. Whatever stories said about Gawain, the version of the man that Archer fought was an idiot, both in his ideals and his deeds. In his blind loyalty to his King, he never realized that she was human, that she had feelings and needs like everyone else. He only ever performed his job as a knight, simply allowing the whole responsibility for the country to rest on her shoulders. He had never understood her.

Archer wasn't sure why this pissed him off so much. He didn't know what connection he had with the King of Knights, someone who died hundreds of years before he was core identity was ever born, but he knew that he knew her, and the memories of the burdens she was made to bare made Archer view the Knights of the Round Table with utter contempt. Perhaps some of the thousands of fragments of unnamed heroes that the Moon Cell used to pad out Archer's soul in order to make him a Heroic Spirit contained memories of the great king, but it didn't explain why it felt so personal. Why Archer could say with confidence that he had known Arturia better than Gawain, her supposed right hand man, had.

This guy reminded Archer a lot of Gawain, with his blond hair, generic good looks, noble posture, his shiny armor and his 'Righteous' title, that was missing the 'self' part. Though he was nowhere near as strong.

* * *

Name: Cruz Liuzel

Age: 28

Race: Human

Job: Blink Swordsman

Status: Normal

Level: 33/99

HP: 256 MP: 175 STR: 113 END: 119

AGI: 178 INT: 80 MGC: 91 DEX: 119

Skills: Malice Perception: Lv3, Presence Concealment: Lv2, Evasion: Lv5, Court Etiquette: Lv3, Presence Perception: Lv4, Sword Techniques: Lv5, Sword Arts: Lv7, Self-Defense Arts: Lv4, Leadership: Lv2, Flash Step: Lv7, Cold Resistance: Lv4, Poison Resistance: Lv5, Trap Perception: Lv2, Vigor Manipulation

Titles: Righteous

Equipment: Mithril Longsword of Flame, Light-Silver Steel Armor, Light-Silver Steel Gauntlets, Light-Silver Steel Greaves, Cloak of One Hundred Spiders, Bracelet of Poison Resistance

* * *

He appeared to be your standard C-rank Adventurer, if a little younger than some. Which meant that his stats and skills were less than half Fran's, and that he would stand about as much of a chance in a fight against the catgirl as Archer would stand a chance in an arm-wrestling competition against a hundred Berserkers.

By herself, without any equipment bonuses, none of Fran's stats were less than 110. Her highest base stats, STR, was currently 187, making her strong even among C-rank Adventurers. With the +50 in all stats she gained from Archer and the +10 she got from her new armor's [Black Cat's Divine Blessing], her stats were enormous. She was around as strong as the Guild Master himself, despite their difference in age and level.

The [Black Cat's Divine Blessing] was not part of Archer's enchantments, but part of the Gods' 'Named Item' system that bestowed blessings on items that were especially good. Archer had made plenty of these items, usually blessed by the God of Smithing, the Warrior God or the God of Swords. Kuroko and Shiroko had been blessed by the Goddess of Chaos, along with Art's "Little Demon Set". However, Fran's "Black Cat Set" was blessed by the God of Beasts, a sign of his approval of the girl, rather than the armor. Perhaps it meant that the God who created the Beastkin was rooting for Fran to succeed in her quest to be the first Black Catkin to evolve, as the armor's special skill would only activate for a Black Catkin. Hopefully that was a good sign, and didn't mean they were a pawn in the Gods' political games.

Archer just couldn't understand why he gave her the blessing he did. While the +10 in all stats were good, [Black Cat's Divine Blessing] also gave an immunity to [Auto-death], which was rather redundant for Fran to have.

[Auto-death] appeared to simply be a sort of curse that caused the target to have a heart attack, rather than ripping the lifeforce from their body. This meant it was completely countered by the [Auto-life] [Recovery Magic] spell, which would automatically restart the heart if it ever stopped beating. Not only that, high enough Magic Resistance could prevent [Auto-death] from effecting, as could just having a lot of Luck, something that Fran had in spades. Even if someone did target her with an [Auto-death] skill, the odds of it working on her were incredibly low, and even if it did, they would have to cast it a second time and get a second success before Archer could recast [Auto-life] for what to him was the negligible cost of 20 Mana. It just wasn't going to happen.

Perhaps the God of Beasts knew something that Archer didn't and it was meant to be a hint towards the key to the Black Catkin's Evolution. Maybe he should start looking up famous monsters with the [Auto-death] ability and start hunting them down. Something to keep in mind for after they achieve level 45.

While Archer was considering all of this, more of the party continued with their introductions. Archer didn't really care. He took a quick look over the lot of them, and none of them were worth a mention. If the C-rank fighters were only around half as strong as Fran was, the E-rankers were only a quarter, and their weapon combat skills made Archer want to cry in embarrassment. It didn't help that the "Dragon's Roar" party all used spears with all the grace of army grunts.

The only one that Archer played even slight attention to was a Wood Elf named Frion, and only because he had a Guardian Spirit tucked away in side of him. He appeared to be a bit stronger than your average E-rank, being closer to a midtier D-rank.

They went down the line, introducing the nobodies one by one, saying their names, rank and their style of combat, until they reached Amanda. "Then I guess I'm next? I'm Amanda. Best regards." Amanda said with a smile and wave. Even that level of introduction was unnecessary. Everyone there already knew who she was, since they had been on the expedition with her just the week prior. Still, some used her introduction as a chance to mumble about the oddity of an A-rank Adventurer going on a D-rank mission.

Well, most of them just mumbled. "I see how it is…" The leader of the spear wielders, a guy named Chad, said. Archer had been doing his best to ignore the man's existence, as he looked like a cartoonists exaggerations of Archer's own features, tanned skin and spiked silver hair, but with a stretched out chin, angry eyes and face tattoo that made him look like a common street thug.

Art and Amanda had childishly pointed him out to Archer with giggles before, though Fran claimed not to see any resemblance at all.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I know the reason an A Rank like you'd take on such a low-rank request! This commission's probably just something you took in your spare time, right?! We had to seriously prepare ourselves, y'know?! This isn't where you should be playing around!" The man shouted. Archer was frankly impressed. It takes a special kind of stupid to bark at someone so obviously higher up the food chain than yourself.

Not that Amanda seemed to mind. "I have no intention of simply playing around though? Besides, I have permission from the Guild Master." The woman said with a dismissive shrug of the shoulders.

"Tsk." The idiot clicked his tongue in frustration, still wanting to pick a fight.

"Now, now. Then, the young ladies next please." The want-to-be Gawain said, trying to keep the train wreck moving. If it weren't for how much he reminded Archer of the idiot, Archer might have felt sorry for him.

"Fran. Leader of the 'Cat's Tail' party. Rank-D." "I'm Art, also rank-D, let's get along." The pair introduced themselves, Fran's expression not changing and Art giving a big smile. This didn't make Chad any happier.

"Oi, brats. I said it before, we're going on a mission seriously. If y'think this'll just be a simple excursion, then it's better for you to go back home and suck your mom's teat instead!" The man shouted, turning on his [Intimidation] skill, which only made Art laugh.

"Mother's dead." Fran said, the level of [Intimidation] being so low as to not even register with here. Chad was shocked out of his skill for the brazen response, though Fran only seemed to mean it as a statement of fact, not really thinking about her words.

(How exactly would I even go about sucking on your teat?) Art asked teasingly. Archer wisely chose not to respond to that question. He knew that the girl's didn't care about the man's attitude all that much, as long as he didn't try to assault them. And Archer felt the same. The man was too insignificant to warrant Archer's hate.

However, even if Fran and Art didn't care at all, bringing up the subject of Fran's parents triggered Amanda who immediately got into a shouting match with the idiot.

"Err. Then, because the self-introductions are over, I'll move on to the briefing." Cruz said, trying yet again to move things along. "Please try to get along for the duration of the job."

Both Chad and Amanda scoffed at the idea of getting along, but Fran gave the affirmative, still not having realized that Chad had a problem with her and Art. He was just too small for her to notice. As for Art, she was too busy casting [Wind Magic] to whisper insults into Chad's ears to even hear Cruz, disguising her voice to sound like one of the man's own teammates and starting them fighting each other for her own entertainment.

It took a while to get them all calmed down enough to even listen to the explanation about the quest.

It was only a full explanation of the mission, as far as the E-ranks were aware, go into the dungeon, collect the Mana Crystals and get out, trimming the Demonic Beasts they met along the way and harvesting the valuables. He also mentioned the kinds of traps to watch out for. Nothing complicated. Even with the addition of the evolved monsters, Archer didn't foresee any issues.

Even so, just getting there was going to be a journey in and of itself, with the spoiled Amanda, the loudmouth Chad and the troublemaker Art.

Archer gave the pretty boy white knight an hour before he was pulling out his hair.

* * *

Noisy.

It would have been such a pleasant day if it hadn't been for all the noise that Amanda and that spear person were making. She didn't even understand what they were being so loud about.

Fran didn't hate the noisy spear wielders. To an extent, she understood them, at least a little. Archer had told her their skills, each one of them having the [Hunger Resistance] skill. She might not have understood everything, but she understood hunger. The kind of hunger that eats away at your spirit for days and days and makes you gladly bit the head off of a dead rat that has already been picked mostly clean by bugs.

Fran remembered it well. She had seen a lot of it and experienced it herself. She knew how living through stuff like that changed people.

Still, it was ruining the trip. Fran had hoped that this would be a nice Adventurer that she could share with Amanda before they had to go. She had grown to admire the woman for her strength and spirit. She was amazing. Not as amazing as Archer, but good enough that even after three days worth of training with her, Art and Fran had yet to beat her.

Not only was she strong, she was also a good person. They had visited the orphanage and seen how she had taken care of the other children. She had seen the way they all smiled for her and wished to play with her.

She admired Amanda, and deep down, she wanted to stay with her. To keep having fun together. But she knew that she couldn't. She couldn't give up on the dream of Evolution. She would work hard to achieve it, as hard as she needed to.

She wanted this dive into the dungeon to be memorable. Something she could hold close.

So why did they have to be so noisy? Fran was not used to such constant noise. Not outside of battle. It made her uneasy. Slaves didn't usually hear shouting for this long without something bad happening to them.

Fran had to shake her head, to get rid of the thought. She wasn't a slave. Not any more. This noise didn't bother her. It didn't make her uneasy. It didn't bring back bad memories.

Even after Art got bored of messing with the spear wielders, they still moved at a slow pace and didn't arrive at the Dungeon until sundown, despite only running into a few monsters.

"Erm… Originally we should have gone inside on the first day and traveled through two floors of the Dungeon, finishing the rest tomorrow, but… Because we're a little behind schedule, we'll stop and camp here today and head into the Dungeon early tomorrow. Sound good?" Cruz said, seeming tired from the journey.

To be so tired from such a short trip? He needed to train better.

"What d'you mean 'camp'! We should just hurry up and start conquering the Dungeon immediately, right? Conquering this Dungeon'll be easy; there're only small fries inside, y'know?" The noisy spearman said, being in favor of entering immediately.

"The Ranks of the Demonic Beasts within are indeed low, but it's dangerous to go in with a tired body. And so, we'll be camping here today." Cruz reasoned.

"I agree." "Me too." "Sounds good." Several people agreed as Fran thought things over.

Part of her wanted to go in right away, but she knew that wasn't right. "Exhaustion: Enemy. Wait till morning."

"Tsk! Cowards!" The spearman shouted, crossing his arms.

"Alright, the first watch will go to Miss Fran and Art, after that, the order will be my group, then Chad's, and finally Frion's." Cruz said.

"Nn. Understood." "You can count on us!" Fran and Art said.

"The A Rank won't be keeping watch?" The spearman asked, talking about Amanda.

"Amanda is acting as a spectator. Besides, if I asked her to help then it wouldn't be a proper test for you guys. If she participated, it'd take less than an hour to traverse the Dungeon on foot, and we'd be able to leave for home before the day ends. As for the results of the examination in that case: you'd all fail." Cruz responded. "You should have been notified beforehand, but meals and bedding are to be prepared by each party individually, alright?"

Ah yes, meal time. The best time.

As everyone split up to set up camp in their own parties, Fran went with Art and Amanda to a nice hill and Archer brought out a large dinner, enough for all three of them.

They didn't have to set up their tent, since they didn't really have one. Fran and Archer could build a stone house anywhere, and they had the large comfortable bed they took from the nobleman's house in their [Dimensional Storage]. It was large enough for all three of them to sleep together.

But first they would have to take that first watch.

"Oi, Oi. Can a pair of brats even keep watch?" The spear wielder said, giving Fran and Art a look of contempt.

"No problem." Fran replied simply. Fran wasn't even tired, because of her high [Exhaustion Resistance], and just wanted a chance to enjoy some quiet.

"Ahh? Y'think I can just trust a brat's words so easily?"

"She's a Rank D Adventurer. That's higher than you guys, right? If she says that there is no problem, then it's fine." Cruz said, his voice sharp.

"Them even being Rank D is questionable! What could a couple of kids have done while we were on that expedition, huh? Chances are, they just used their bodies to gain the favor of that lolicon Guild Master, right? So, how'd ya be able to do it, huh?!" The noisy person keep shouting, and things that Fran didn't understand. What did he mean by using their bodies? Was he referring to fighting? They hadn't ever fought the Guild Master.

Apparently, his schedule was always busy.

"We got promoted because we beat up a bunch of guys around the Guild Hall." Art said, putting her hands behind her head and leaned back to look up at the sky. "Though it probably also has to do with the Guild Master being afraid of Mom."

"Hyahaha! As if I would believe that. But if you brats really are so strong, then show me. Let's 'train' a little."

"Uh oh, you said the 'T' word." Art laughed in a sign song voice.

"Train?" Fran's ears twitched as the familiar work penetrated her disinterested mind. Fran got up, putting away her meal. "Nn. Let's train."

* * *

**For all of you who make a big stink about Auto-death, it isn't even that big of a deal. And for those of you who think I was too hard on Gallus, he never gave his armor immunity to Auto-Death, the god who blessed it did. Don't give the dwarf credit for something he didn't do.**

**And as far as magic bullshit weapons you really should look out for, the magic spear they face cuts through magic defenses would completely render Gallus' armor pointless, as its only defense is the magical protection.**


	29. Chapter 29

"What are you doing?" Chad asked the beastkin girl as she started to stretch herself out like the cat she resembled while he was standing there with his spear at the ready.

"Pre-training warm up. Very important." The girl said, not changing her mode of behavior.

"Well cut it out! I don't have all day!" Chad shouted. He couldn't stand her. He couldn't stand people who were just gifted life on a silver platter. Who had never worked for anything. These brats and that C-rank noble asshole, they had been born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and didn't know a damn thing about what it was like to crawl around in the slums, fighting with dogs for scraps.

The Adventurer's Guild had been Chad salvation. It had been all of their salvation. While it hadn't been easy, it gave them a means to life, and the right to have a little pride in themselves as they worked their way up the ranks. So to see someone just be shunted up in standing because of connections and a lolicon Guild Master… unforgivable!

With that magic sword, and the way her expression never changed no matter what Chad did or said. It was clear she came from some kind of privileged class. That she thought she was better than the rest of them. Well, Chad planned on teacher her a lesson.

"Nn? Training time: limited?" The girl said, tilting her head before nodding. "Understood. Will start sparring now." She stood opposite the spear user, then she stopped and frowned. "My turn on watch."

"What? Are you gonna try to make excuses now!? Chad growled, but then stopped as the girl started to mumble to herself.

"~[Wind Zone]." The girl said, and Chad felt as the wind around him began to steer. The spear user was shocked, as he recognized the spell. It was one that some of the other Adventurers on the expedition had used to set up a giant ward around their camp, to warn them if anything approached. However, the girl wasn't done. "~[Earth Zone]." She said, placing her palm against the ground, causing a light pulse to go through it.

"You're a magician?" Chad said, with more than a little surprise. Both [Wind Zone] and [Earth Zone], the girl had both [Wind Magic] and [Earth Magic] at their level 4 forms at least. To have a single type of magic at level 4 would normally imply the level of skill of an E-rank Adventurer. Chad had assumed she was a Warrior, like him, due to the broad sword she carried, but she was a magic user.

"Nn? Not a magician." The girl said.

"But that just now… that was magic."

"Usably without being a magician."

"...True." Chad said, before shaking his head. He wasn't going to back down now. If she was a magic user, that just meant he would have to keep up the offense, not giving her enough time to cast her spells. "Come on, let's go already!"

"...Nn." Fran replied, reaching out her head. But to Chad's surprise, rather than going for the magic sword on her back, she instead reached into empty space, and drew out a spear…. A very familiar looking spear, with the shape of a dragon branded on its head. Chad's jaw nearly dropped as he looked from his own weapon to hers. "Use this. More fair that way." The girl said as she dipped into a stance, holding up her spear. Chad shifted his own footing as he realized her stance was better than his own. "Could use practice."

"I…" Chad didn't know what to say. This wasn't what he had imagined happening. He was starting to get the impression that he might be in over his head. Like those stories they told about the girls were more than just stories.

He could hear his companions, his family, his brothers in arms, mumbling the same worried thoughts that were running through his head. But he was in too deep to be turning back now.

"Ready?" The girl asked, her eyes still calm, the same way they had already been.

Chad shouted as he rushed forward and thrust his spear with all his strength. "[Double Thrust]!" His attack was fast, but nowhere near fast enough. The girl's spear blurred, knocking Chad's thrusts aside before slicing across his arm. Chad stumbled from the pain and the girl performed her follow up attack.

"[Power Swung]." She moved her entire upper body with her swing, letting the spear slide between her fingers to stretch out her reach to beyond Chad's own so that she could strike his legs and knock them out from under him. "Leaned too far forward. Couldn't correct footing. Don't over commit." She said, commenting on his form, though Chad was too stunned to hear.

"I thought you were a sword user." [Spear Techniques]. She was supposed to be a sword user, but she also knew [Spear Techniques]. Chad had been fighting with the spear for years, but had only recently learned how to use [Spear Techniques] at level 1.

"Sword, best. But Archer taught all weapons." Fran said. "~[Middle Heal]." Immediately, the injuries that Chad had just sustained disappeared. "We continue."

"Boss, are you alright!?" The other members of "Dragon's Roar" started to run forward, wanting to check on Chad, though they stopped when Fran turned her head towards them.

"Joining in?" The girl asked with a tilt of the head.

"I… we.. ah…"

"Understood. Five against one. More fair that way."

What had Chad gotten them into?

* * *

Frion watched in stunned awe, along with the rest of the camp at the 'Training'. None of them were thinking about resting for the next day. He wasn't even sure if he would be able to sleep at all that night.

After Fran had thrown around the members of "Dragon's Roar" for a half hour, the men stopped getting back up, regardless how much she healed them and tried to encourage them. But the girl herself, despite having just spent thirty minutes fighting five on one and using up a good deal of mana on a barrier spell and healing magic, wasn't satisfied, and started to spar with Art and Amanda instead. That was around two hours ago, and none of them seemed to be in any hurry to stop.

Someone probably should have taken over watch, even with the barrier up, but no one seemed to bother. Any Demonic Beast that came towards this was simply suicidal. Frion was actually a little worried about being so close to such a battle.

Amanda was an A-rank Adventurer, which deserved their reputation of being inhumanly strong, and yet, Fran and Art were actually able to land small blows against her and keep her moving. They weren't by any means winning, but to even do this much against one of the legendary A-rankers was frankly absurd.

When his uncle, Klimt, had told him about the girls, Frion hadn't truly believed him. It just didn't seem real. But after watching them 'spar' he was starting to get the impression that his uncle didn't know the half of it.

Klimt had asked his nephew to follow along on the mission, both to make sure it was done properly and to ask his Guardian Spirit to evaluate the children's personalities and see if he could detect Fran's own Guardian Spirit, 'Archer'.

Tarua was an Ether-type spirit, and one of the most intelligent of his kind. He could easily communicate with people and possessed the ability to accurately judge others, not just detect malice, like most spirits. It was because of this that Klimt had asked them to take a look at the girls. Chad had been picked for his bad personality, in order to create conflict to make it easier to judge the girls by.

(I suppose Chad did his job. She got so fed up with him that she beat him into the ground over and over again.) Frion thought as they watched in silence.

[You'd be wrong about that.] Tarua said in that same cheeky manner he had used with Frion for as long as the Elf could remember. [While it might look to you like she was taking out her frustrations against the man, she didn't hold any malice against him at all. She genuinely thought they were training and was having fun. The entire trip down here, she didn't once feel hatred for him, regardless how much he had for her. It's rare to see anyone so good natured… and oblivious.]

(She seems more like a force of nature than good natured to me.) Frion chuckled weakly, a habit he had picked up from spending too much time with his uncle.

[Well, that just goes to show that you still are not good at reading people.] Tarua replied. [After all, it is Art who is a 'Fiend' in the most literal sense of the word.]

(What do you mean by that?) Frion asked as his eyes went to the other girl. While still incredibly strong with magic, Art seemed to be overshadowed by Fran in terms of weapon skills.

[I mean that the girl is a true Demon. A Fiend-type Demonic Beast of the C-rank. One of the servants of the Goddess of Chaos.]

(What!?)

[I'm not surprised that my brethren didn't notice. She does a good job of hiding her magical signature.] Tarua said. [She seems to be Fran's Familiar. WIth how difficult it is to enter into a familiar contract with a Demon, I am rather surprised myself.]

(A Demon. The girl managed to make a Demon her familiar.) Frion repeated, trying to process it. Having a C-rank Familiar automatically placed someone on the level of being a high C-rank Adventurer, even if they themselves were rather weak. Jean Dovy was almost considered an A-rank Adventurer, despite his B-rank stats, because of his ability to create and control B-rank Undead. Indeed, the only reason the man was never named an A-rank was because of the fact that he couldn't get the approval of enough Guild Masters, as they thought that he was too creepy to be a 'Hero'.

[It isn't really anything to be worried about. While she is a Demon, she is just a mischievous child who enjoys using [Illusion Magic] to prank people. I just found it interesting.] Tarua said with a mental shrug.

(And what about the girl's Guardian Spirit? Have you spotted him as well?" Frion asked.

Just like having a Demonic Beast familiar could cause one to be classified as a higher rank, having a spirit at one's call could do the same. While Frion himself was an E-rank Adventurer based on achievement, and a D-rank based on his own stats, Tarua would allow him to be classified as a C-rank in terms of total ability, or even B-rank depending on the situation. If Tarua took him over, his stats all skyrocketed and he could disorent hundreds of enemies at once, while also providing support buffs to all his allies.

While Frion couldn't sense any spirit around the girl, that didn't mean that one wasn't there. It just meant that the girl was not using his power. And if this was how strong she was without the help of her Guardian Spirit...

[I did sense him, if only briefly, and only because he was probing me.] Tarua said. [He spotted me immediately, back when we were still near the town. As for his nature, I cannot be the judge of him, I barely had any time to get a feel for him. His observation of me was nothing more than a passing glance. The same way that you might look to a bird that you heard shaking the branches of a nearby tree. I was so uninteresting to him as to not even warrant a second glance. To be honest, he frightens me.]

(He frightens you?) Frion said, surprised. He had never known the spirit to be frightened by anything. Even individuals like Amanda and Jean Dovy only caused the spirit to roll his eyes and complain about their childishness.

[Frion, the most powerful spirits you mortals can summon are the Supreme Spirits. But that doesn't mean that there are not even stronger spirits out there. There are Spirits that were never meant to be permitted within the mortal realm. There are Spirits whose power can even rival that of the S-rank threats, the Divine Beasts.] Tarua said seriously. [You and Klimt wanted to hear my advice on this matter, and my advice is simple. Under no circumstances should you ever make an enemy that young girl. And if anything should happen to her… Gods help us all.]

Frion just nodded his head.

Spirits that were more powerful than the Supreme Spirits. It could only mean one thing.

The legendary type of spirit that had never been confirmed to exist, save for by other spirits who spoke tales about them. It was said that the Gods only ever allowed them to descend into the world whenever an S-rank Beast got out of control as the last possible line of defense against world wide destruction.

A Counter Guardian Spirit.

* * *

Cruz had never witnessed something so humbling as this… training.

Cruz Liuzel had been born into nobility and started training at a young age in order to become strong, to uphold the family name and honor. He had worked hard to improve himself, not relying on others to feed him easy levels and never letting a chance to hone his skills pass by. Because of his skill and his relatively young age, he had been considered something of a genus, and while he had never thought that he had let that kind of talk go to his head, he couldn't help but have his world shattered by what he was witnessing now.

It wasn't as though he hadn't known that people who were stronger than him existed, or that some of those people were younger than him. He hadn't even doubted Donna's word when the man had told him that the young girls were stronger than he was… he just wasn't exacting the gap to be this large.

It wasn't just stats or levels. Even Art, who appeared to be the weaker of the two when it came to weapon's combat, had skills that were equal to his own, with Fran's level of skill with her weapon of choice being closer to that of Amanda's. They were not limited to only weapons as they possessed magic as well, with multiple types at high levels. Their stamina was unbelievable as they fought for whole hours without a break.

Compared to them, Cruz wasn't just weaker, he was weak.

It must have been their training. The way they pushed themselves, getting up each time they were knocked down, just healing their own injuries and continuing to fight.

The "Dragon's Roar" hadn't been able to handle it for more than thirty minutes, but these children could go on for hours at a much higher level.

It made Cruz's own training, which till now he had been so proud of, feel… inadequate.

Finally, Cruz had enough, grabbing his weapon and heading over to the three fighters… only they didn't stop as he approached. "Please, let me train with you!" His response was a stray attack from Amanda, which he barely managed to block and with sent him flying.

Not to be one to give up that easily, Cruz pushed himself back up and returned to the battle, again and again until he was acknowledged and the three recognized him as a participant.

….He was going to regret that.

* * *

**For whoever thought I was bashing Gawain in the last chapter, I suggest they good look at him in Fate/Extra. He is an extremely arrogant individual in it. He doesn't bother to hide his identity and believes himself to be completely invincible, not taking battles seriously. He also openly insults the player and their servant in a rather childish manner. **

**In the game, Archer tells Gawain that he never understood Arturia, and seems to have a personal dislike for the guy. (maybe that is me just reading into things)**

**As for why I brought it up at all, Cruz is going to be attempting to become Fran's Gawain, a loyal knight who would follow her everywhere without asking any questions and do whatever she says.**


	30. Chapter 30

Fran cheerfully hummed as she worked her tools into the groove along the edge of a pressure plate trap in front of her as she worked to disarm it.

It was the first bit of fun she had all day.

After seeing what she was capable of, some of the examiners asked her to kindly refrain from joining in on the fighting for the first few floors. While this wasn't really a big deal, as the monsters there were only basic insects that were only rank G, not worth enough EXP or Magic Stone Points to matter, it did leave the girls more than a little bore. To make it up to her, Fran was permitted to try her hand at disarming traps, something she found rather fun. She was also not bad at it, since she had a basic idea of how to use [Structural Analysis] in order to get a good grasp of the traps mechanics, and because she could walk straight out on top of a magic based trap without triggering it.

It might have been faster to simply activate them all and deal with the consequences, but they weren't exactly in a rush, and Fran was enjoying herself. Like that, they continued through the first four layers of the dungeon, and despite the Demonic Beasts, it was rather peaceful.

Chad and his group had been shocked into silence after the previous night and now just did their job without making any fuss or picking any fights. Indeed, now the only ones harassing Fran were Amanda, in her usual fashion which no longer bothered the girl, and Cruz.

After the previous night, Cruz's attitude towards Fran had changed from simple acknowledgement to complete worship. Even though the man was supposed to be the leader of the expedition, he deferred to Fran completely. This became more and more ridiculous, as while asking her her opinion on how to approach a group of monsters or where to take breaks was one thing, asking her which way they should go at an intersection when Fran wasn't even the person with the map was just plan stupid. It was reaching the point were his teammates were starting to get embarrassed.

Amanda and Art both found it funny, and Fran hardly seemed to notice it at all, but Archer… he didn't like it. He knew that things like this would happen, that Fran would become such an outstanding individual that everyone would either see her as an idol or fear her as a villain. He just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

He figured it would be another two or three years before a noble in his late twenties would be coming to her on hands and knees, looking to her for guidance in his life. She was too young for this kind of treatment. How long would it be before countries start looking to make her a noblewoman in order to form connections with her, or even try to make her their Queen? How long until they see her the same way that they see Amanda, as a general purpose tool for dealing with threats? There was little doubt in Archer's mind that it would happen eventually.

At the rate they were going, so long as they didn't start seeing large diminishing returns on their training, even if she never evolved and was stuck at level 45, Fran would reach the same STR as the Mother of Demon Children in just a year's time. A second year to match her AGL. After that, it will only be experience that separates them. Hell, if Archer was willing to purchase STR ↑ High for around 35 Self-evolution Points, he could boost Fran's STR by 100 and she would surpass Amanda's physical strength right away.

When they were having their lunch break at the end of the fourth floor, Cruz bombarded Fran with questions about how to better train himself. The response he got was Fran telling him that "Hunger: Enemy. A good warrior doesn't waste an opportunity to eat." She had just meant to tell him to shut up and eat, but the man took as dogma, perhaps thinking that eating was the true secret to the girls' powers… which in Art's case it kind of was. Ignoring the pain, Cruz ate far more than his stomach could handle, trying to imitate the girls, and had to be healed of his crippling stomach ache.

After the fifth floor started, Trap Spiders started to appear, and the number and complexity of the traps started to increase. Fran continued to ignore the monsters as she puzzled away on her traps, with Art shooting down the ones that tried to sneak up on the girl, if Fran didn't catch them first. Things were slowly getting more difficult, with the Trap Spiders being on the stronger end of F-rank Demonic Beasts and appearing in small groups, but the E-rankers still had things under control, with the help of Cruz and his party. That lasted all the way until the sixth and final floor of the dungeon.

Right as the girls were wondering if there weren't any evolved enemies after all, the first Trick Spiders showed up.

(You think we should tell them that those are Trick Spiders over there?) Art asked as the nine E-rankers suddenly found themselves being pushed back by just five of the giant spiders. Art had instantly spotted them, but only because she was expecting them. They didn't really look any different than your normal Trap Spiders, though their stats were a little less than three times higher and they had several stronger poisons to work with.

[I won't worry too much yet. For their group, this should only be a challenge, not a sure defeat. The Guild Master wanted them to experience this anyways.] Archer replied with a mental shrug. It wasn't like the Spiders were strong enough to instantly kill the men. Even if they were seriously injured, so long as their heads weren't the things damaged, they could be healed up with [Greater Heal], so there was no rush.

"Gennell, what's wrong!?" One of the Dragon's Roar members shouted as his friend backed away and fell to the ground, his injured leg spasming.

"I… The Anti-venom. It isn't working." The man replied as his face contorted with pain. The first speaker rushed over to give his friend, opening another Anti-venom, only for it to have no effect.

[It seems that they all only packed the lowest grade of anti-venom.] Archer commented as the man started to scream from the pain. [Fran, I know you're having fun, but you might want to help him before his insides turn to soap.]

"Nn?" Fran said, looking up from the magic trap she was bending over. While it resembled the other teleportation traps she had already deactivated, it had an added layer of complexity to it and Fran was finding it to be a welcome challenge. She had spent the entirety of the fight looking over the thing, trying to puzzle it out. But once called out of her work, she noticed the man twitching on the ground and she cast a [Antidote] spell on him before restoring his health with a [Medium Heal].

"I'm saved." The man said as he was cured of the poison.

"Be more careful. Trick Spiders have [Deadly Poison Fang]." Fran said disinterestedly, as she returned to puzzling out the magical trap.

"Trick Spiders!? They have evolved!?" The man screamed in panic, alerting everyone else. Things started to devolve as the rookies realized they were in a fight that could very well cost them their lives, with the C-rank party trying to regain control over the group.

"...Should we be helping?" Art asked as she and Amanda just watched them.

"It should be fine. Cruz's party is C-rank, so they should be able to handle as many as twenty Trick Spiders by themselves." Amanda replied.

[Oh look, there are twenty more Trick Spiders right now.] Archer said as a second and third group of the spiders started to come down side passages towards them, perhaps lured there by all of the noise.

Things still might have been under control if it won't for the people already beginning to panic. But as things were, Cruz folded. "Miss Fran, I think this is where your group takes over!"

"It's about time." Art grinned and cracked her knuckles before forming a finger gun and aiming at the nearest targets. "[Dark Arrow]. [Dark Arrow]. [Dark Arrow]. [Dark Arrow]." The Demoness shot blast after blast, each one blowing a fist sized hole in the target's head. Within thirty seconds, all of the giant spiders were dead, leaving the Adventurers to move away from the corpses in dumb shock.

"What the hell? There wasn't supposed to be anythin' like this here." Chad said as he looked over the monstrous spiders.

"You made assumptions about your enemy's strength and lowered your guards. Then when taken by surprise, you weren't able to regroup." Amanda said, her voice clear. "Most Adventurers don't get to survive those kinds of mistakes."

Some of the Adventurers looked dejected, almost like children as Art started to do her warm up stretches. "It's finally time for us to take over. You ready Fran?"

"Nn…" Fran said, though she was still working on the trap.

"Ah!" "Spiders! There are more Spiders!" Two of the Dragon Roar members shouted, pointing down an empty passageway.

Art did look but ended up scratching her head. "What are you idiots shouting about? Nothing's there."

"It seems they've been hit by the Trick Spider's [Confusion Poison]. They are starting to see things." Amanda said with a shrug. "We should make sure to harvest it. It sells well to pharmacies, as they use it to make a powerful painkiller."

"We've got to get out of here!" "Don't just stand there!" The pair shouted before turning and running.

"Stop you idiots! Don't run that way!" Chad shouted in panic, but it was too late. The pair had ran away from the empty hallway and straight towards where Fran was standing, hovering over the magical trap.

[Fran move!] Archer shouted. But the girl hadn't been paying attention to her party members and only blinked in surprise as the teleportation trap began to glow. [Fran, be ready for a fight as soon as we are teleported.] Archer said in a hurry.

The sword growled with annoyance, as escorting the two idiots back to the group was going to be a pain in the ass. But it didn't really matter. The teleporter sending him and Fran directly into the monsters' nest could even make things easier on them. He and Fran could deal with thousands of these Trick Spiders without a problem, and it would save them the hassle of hunting them all down.

Only, when the magic circle went off and the light faded, Archer found himself falling to the floor along with the two idiot's weapons and the back up weapons. Fran had been teleported, but Archer had been left behind.

(Nameless has been forcibly unequipped.)

* * *

"Fran! Fran!" Art screamed as she jumped onto the fading circle, smashing her hands against it, trying to make it activate. [Mom, I can't feel Fran! I can't feel her anywhere!]

With Fran's connection to Archer severed, it also severed her connection to Art. Neither one of them could feel the connection that had once gone between them and the catgirl.

"Forced cancellation of equipped weapons…? Even the spare weapons were left behind…" Cruz said in shock.

"Ridiculous! I've ne'er heard a' such a brutal trap existin' in this Dungeon!" Chad shouted.

"This has to be the work of a Trickster Spider. They have the [Trap Remodeling] skill." Amanda said, only slightly more collected than Art as she placed a hand on the demon girl's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find her soon."

[Art, we need to check the map. Maybe the destination is still the same.] Archer said, keeping his own voice calm as to not set the girl off.

(Right.) Art said as she grabbed onto Archer's handle.

(Registered Wielder: Art)

"The map, give it to me!" Art shouted at the C-rank Adventurer who had been keeping it. The man jumped in freight as Art's worries had caused her to activate her [Dread] skill, causing the girl to practically glow with malevolence in their eyes.

"Wh… what?"

Art bared her teeth as she reached out her hand waiting for the map. "Give me that goddamn map and then get your worthless asses back down to the five floor before you screw things up even more than you already have!"

The moment the man started to pull out the map, Art grabbed it from him and opened it up. (Mom, you know how to read it, right?)

[Take the passage on the left and go for three interactions before turning right.] Archer said, before he was even finished speaking the girl was rushing off as fast as she could, boosted along by Archer's support magic. None of the other Adventurers, save for Amanda, having the speed necessary to follow her. Even if they did, they wouldn't have been able to dodge the network of traps that were scattered across the ground the way Art did.

While before she lacked the [Skills] required to identify them quickly, she could know spot them with ease, thanks to Archer's shared skills. Still, all those shared skills weren't helping her sense Fran.

Spiders came pouring out all around them, hundreds of them filling the tunnel, but all they did was piss the Demoness off. "Get the hell out of my way!" Using her own [Chantless Magic] and Archer's massive mana pool, she fired off an overcharged [Winds of Chaos]. The chaotic spell rushed further blasting all of the Spiders into pieces and moving down the passageways, killing more and more of them.

(Title Unlocked: Spider Tyrant | Awarded to one who kills more than 300 spiders in a single attack.)

[Art, you need to calm down. What if Fran was somewhere in that attack?] Archer said, trying to advise the girl to use caution.

"She's going to be alright. Isn't she mom?"

[...She isn't one to go down easy. We will get to her in time.] Archer replied.

If Fran had even a basic sword in hand, Archer would say she could take down anything that dungeon had to throw at her. But with nothing but her bare hands and without Archer's stat bonus and mana pool, she was only a little stronger than those C-rankers who had been overwhelmed by just Trick Spiders. Could Fran beat a Trickster Spider, as well as whatever else was on the other side of that teleportation circle, under those kinds of conditions?

Archer wanted her to be fine, but he wasn't going to bet on it. They needed to reach her as fast as possible.

[The room should be on the other side of that wall right in front of you.]

"[Power Slash]!" Art gave a little roar as she swung Archer with all her enhanced strength, Archer boosting his own cutting power as much as he could without destroying himself.

The Dungeon walls were hard, but they weren't as stubborn as Archer himself. Cracks formed in his blade as the wall shattered from the assault, large chunks of it flying into the room on the other side, crushing the spiders within under them.

"Fran!? Fran, where are you!?" Art shouted as she stood in the room's newest entrance, turning her head back and forth, trying to stop the girl, but she wasn't there. "No… Fran." Art started to tear up as the spiders ran away in terror from the "Spider Tyrant".

[Keep it together. The destination must have been changed, that doesn't mean we won't reach her in time.] Archer said, trying to keep the girl going.

As Art was trying to recover, Amanda caught up and started to try to comfort her. "Don't worry, Fran is a strong girl, she will manage just fine until we reach her." The woman said as she patted Art's head. "Besides, she has Archer. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to her."

"She doesn't have Archer with her. Archer is right here." Art cried, holding Archer up.

"W...what?" Amanda said, looking at the sword with surprise.

[My soul is bound to this sword. When she was disconnected from it, she became disconnected from me as well.] Archer said, since Art had already spilled the beans.

"...We need to find her right now!" Amanda said, biting her lip.

Archer triggered his [Parallel Processing] skill, trying to figure out a solution. The dungeon was large. Even rushing around as fast as they could, it could be hours before they found where Fran was. It might even be a hidden room that they wouldn't be able to find without just running around demolishing the place. But he didn't have the mana or durability to just go smashing every wall they came across.

Perhaps detection skills were the answer. Maybe he could find her if he maxed out some of them.

{That plan's odds of success are estimated at 2.8%.}

[Rani?]

{This system has a suggestion for overcoming the current problem. With unit name "Nameless"'s help, estimated odds of success are 96.4%.}

[What do we need to do?]

{Head towards the Dungeon Core, this system will explain on the way.}

* * *

(Archer?) Fran said, trying to feel her connection with the sword, but it wasn't there. Loneliness started to set in. She didn't want to be without him. But as she got to her feet her [Vigor Control] amplifying her Perception Skills allowed her to see in the dark chamber around her.

There were spiders. Hundreds upon hundreds of spiders, both of the Trap and Trick variety, and in the center of it all was a behemoth of a spider, easily double the size of the already bull sized spiders around it.

A Trickster Spider.

Behind Fran, still on the ground were the two members of Dragon's Roar, still being affected by the Confusion Poison.

"~[Gust of Wind]." Fran cast the lower level wind spell, causing the men to be shunted into the corner of the room as Fran herself took up position between them and the army of monsters.

Her mana flow quickened as she strengthened her body and raised her fists. There was only one option, so she didn't feel any fear.

She was simply going to have to beat them all.

* * *

**Fran doesn't trigger magic traps herself, so she is free to just walk right out on top of them. But if someone else triggers it and she is in the area, she is still effected.**


	31. Chapter 31

Making a b-line for the Dungeon Core, Art and Amanda not even slowing down as they destroyed everything in their path.

The group hardly even registered all of the Mana Crystals around them as they moved up the stairs towards the Dungeon Core.

{40 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Installing [Dungeon Core Manipulation]... Installation complete.}

{Warning: Once infiltration of Dungeon Core begins, this room and the Dungeon Core itself will be swarmed by Demonic Beasts in order to interfere with our progress. Estimated threat level will be three ranks above the Dungeon's normal threat level.}

"If it is only a C-rank threat, then there is no need to worry. We can handle it." Amanda said, putting off the conversation about what exactly 'Rani' was for later, as time was of the essence.

[Amanda, I'm trusting you to take care of Art while I'm occupied.]

"Just hurry up! We don't have time to waste!" Art shouted as she shoved Archer in front of the large crystal.

[[Dungeon Core Manipulation]] {[Dungeon Core Manipulation]}

Archer and Rani activated the skills. Archer felt as his consciousness was drawn into the Dungeon Core.

* * *

"Well, this is deja vu all over again." Archer said as he observed his surroundings. It looked almost exactly like the Dungeon in the real world, only with glowing blue lines on all the walls, like something out of a science fiction movie. It reminded him of the arenas from the Moon Cell, and it wasn't too far off from the truth.

"This is the Between World, the world which exists within the Leylines and acts as a bridge between the Mortal and Immortal Realm." Rani explained. "The Dungeon Core acts as a terminal, but its functionality is limited to only what is necessary for the Dungeon Masters. If we wish to gain access to the Dungeon Map and reset the Dungeon Monster Roster, this system will have to hack into the deeper programming."

"Which will draw attention to us, as we are messing with the Leyline itself." Archer finished as he turned his head to where he had heard Rani's voice, only to freeze at the sight of her.

"Correct. But it is the most surefire way to save registered user "Fran"." Rani said as she started to walk forward to the simulated Dungeon Core. "Unlike on the outside, there will not be the normal manifestation resistance that exists in the mortal world to stop more powerful enemies to arrive. This system predicts that there is a 89.2% chance of an A-rank threat arriving to stop us. This system will have basic defenses during the process to guard against stray attacks, but will otherwise be vulnerable." As she spoke a menu appeared above the core and she started to rapidly press buttons. "This system will be depending on you to protect it, unit name "Nameless"."

"...Of course." Archer said as he traced copies of Kuroko and Shiroko.

He turned away and faced the entrance to the room, so that he would not have to see her. So that he wouldn't see the young school girl with her wavy brown hair and nearly passive face. "Now breaching the first level of security… First level of security has been breached."

The air became tense as mana began to flow into the room and the blue lines on the walls turned red. Demonic Beasts seemed to simply ooze out of the ground before turning their eyes on the intruders, barring claws and fangs.

"I will not let them touch you."

* * *

Fran's fist slammed into the side of a Trick Spider's head, breaking its mandibles and sending it tumbling to the ground, heavily injured, but still not dead. It was something that was happening a lot. Unfortunately, Fran didn't have time to finish the job as she had to turn her attention to three more Trap Spiders that were coming up on her other side, requiring a flurry of fists to deal with.

Pacing oneself in battle.

It had been a principle that Fran had learned, but had never needed to put into practice, as between her own and Archer's [Automatic MP Recovery] skills, and the [Mana Drain] abilities, it took a lot of waste to run oneself out of mana. She had been regenerating mana at a rate of almost 2 MP per second. It had always been enough, since she never threw around giant spells like Art did, burning 400 MP in a single shot to produce an attack capable of flooring even any C-rank Demonic Beasts.

Even in the very beginning, she had had over 2000 units of mana to work with, with it having passed the 5000 mark in the last few days. Because of this, casting an area of effect fire spell spell for 25 MP, or using [Herculean Strength] Lv3 to exchange up to 30 mana for 60 STR for 15 seconds, had never seemed like that big of a deal.

Now, with only around 240 MP at her disposal, and no way to regain it without stopping the fight to meditate or drinking potions that she didn't have, those small mana costs were starting to look like a lot. Especially with how many targets she was forced to deal with.

Fran would like nothing more than to beat all these worms to a pulp, but to do so would mean letting go of her [Wind Wall] spell, something she couldn't afford to do.

It was the Trickster Spider that was generating the poisonous gas that was filling the room, and while Fran was protected from the fumes by her Black Cat Set's [Poison Resistance Up (High)], the other two most certainly were not. If they became "Deadly Poisoned" she wouldn't be able to heal them. They would be dead within minutes.

In order to fund the spell, she was having to forgo her physical enhancements and her [Hand-to-Hand Techniques]. Not to mention that concentrating on maintaining the spell was making it difficult to fight.

Without Archer's [Appraisal], she couldn't be sure just how much the spell was costing her, or how long she could keep this up. She needed to do something about that Trickster Spider. The problem was that the Trickster Spider was in no hurry to join the battle, hanging up high in the ceiling, where Fran couldn't reach it.

If only she had Archer, she could just jump up and cut that stupid spider down, or blast it to pieces. She could use the stones they gathered inside of the [Dimensional Storage] and some [Earth Magic] to create a barrier around the two weaklings, so she wouldn't have to stand guard over them. She would be able to reinforce her body to her heart's content and drain mana from her fallen enemies. She could throw around so many AOE spells that the entire army of spiders would be torn to shreds in a matter of seconds.

She wondered how many she had killed thus far. It felt like somewhere around a hundred and fifty, but there was no end in sight.

A trio of Spiders attempted to jump down at Fran from the ceiling, requiring her to backup before striking forward. A kick smashed in the head of one. A punch broke through the body of another. A chop took down a third. But there were still hundreds to go.

As Fran planted her feet, she stepped in a large glob of webbing, causing her to trip and fall. A Trick Spider, seeing an opening, lunged to take advantage of it, but before it could attempt to bite her, Fran's foot erupted into flames, burning away the web before she kicked the spider in the stomach, sending it spinning through the air and lighting it on fire.

The [Elemental Weapon] skill took a small bit of Fran mana. She felt as though she had just lost a minute and her foot tingled from the heat, a small warning not to overdo it.

[Elemental Weapon] was a very powerful skill. With just a little mana, it could produce an effect equivalent to a low rank spell. But its true power came from its lack of a ceiling. You could poor as much mana as you desired into the skill and it would continue to grow stronger. It's only true limits were the amount of mana of the user, and the durability of what the skill was used with. At its lowest level, like how Fran had just used it on her boot, it did no damage to the boot at all, but if pressed to its highest form, it could do thousands of damage in durability a second.

Amanda had told stories about completely breaking her own weapons in the past in just a single attack in order to kill A-rank Demonic Beasts. The destructive power of the skill was unreal, but it was not without drawbacks.

Well, it wasn't like Fran needed to worry about that right now. Not with her limited mana.

However, as Fran returned to her feet, ready for more, she saw the flaming spider dancing about in a panic, trying to put itself out. In doing so, it stumbled into a nearby nest, setting it on fire as well.

The threads burned quickly and fell away, not giving the fire enough fuel to spread properly, but destroy the nest and revealing the contents inside.

Fran's eyes widened as she caught the glint of steel in the mess and saw the dries corpse of a man who must have been the victim of the spiders. The person's body had been sucked dry leaving only hollowed skin and bones behind, but his inedible equipment still remained behind, including a large sword, several throwing knives, and what looked to be a sealed satchel, which gave off a bit of magical energy. Fran hoped that those bulges in the satchel were what she thought they were.

"Nn~!" Fran squealed as she cut open the bag and looked inside.

Twenty High-Quality Mana Crystals, each one as large as Fran's own head. Probably a good 2000 units of Mana worth of them, with a combined value of over a million gorudos.

Fran's ears twitched with delight as she drained one of the Mana Crystals to fuel her skills before grabbing the sword and spilling about. Over three dozen spiders were shredded as she unleashed her [Divine Aura Blade], with even more tossed about by the wind created by the attack. The crazed grin of a true battle junkie spread across the girl's face.

The Goddess of Chaos was still watching out for her.

* * *

(New Title Unlocked: Bad Target For Ambush | I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me. | Gain increased stats when ambushed.)

* * *

Archer shot his arrows of steel one after another, with each one sinking into the fleshy part of its target. Dozens of B-rank Demonic Beasts had come charging in at him, and even a pair of A-rank creatures that took on the form of flaming minotaurs. However, even these couldn't stand up to the Servant of the Bow and were more of a hassle for him to kill than a real threat.

In this Between World place, Archer had returned to being his Servant self, and could easily match the B-rank monster's in terms of stats, and with the weapons he had forged over the last few weeks, he had an arsenal of magic weapons capable of damaging them. The Minotaurs had been the strongest opponents, resisting the cutting edge of most of his blades, but even they couldn't stop Kuroko and Shiroko, whose blades were sharper than even Archer's own.

One thing did feel odd though, and that was that ever since he had entered the Between World, he no longer had access to any of the [Skill] he had been collecting since he had first woken up to find that he had become a sword. It was as if the Skill had only ever belonged to the Sword, and that just like Fran had been borrowing them through [Skill Share], so had Archer himself.

It was a shame really, while unneeded here, the [Skills] sure were covenant.

"Finished." Rani said after four minutes of high speed typing. "Location of 'Fran' has been found. Dungeon Core resetting. All active Dungeon Monsters shall be terminated in three… two… one… all Dungeon Monsters have been terminated. Mission: Complete."

"Good. Then I suggest we make our escape." Archer said.

"Agreed. Opening exit now… Failed… Something is blocking this system from opening a return path." "...What?"

"Making another attempt… Failed. This is not good." Rani said, a bit of fear entering her voice. "Large disturbance in the mana flow detected. Something is changing the server layout!"

Something that looked like fingertips appeared, digging through the ceiling above them, pulling the stone away to create a gap over twenty feet across, and staring down through the gap was the black skinned face of a woman with pointed elf-like ears and a mat of cobweb-like hair, only with a pair of spider's mandibles in place of a lower jaw and eight beady black eyes. The abomination seemed to grin as it spotted them.

"I found you, doggo!" It said, its cackling voice shaking the world as the ceiling and walls started to dissolve around them in order to reveal a spider as large as a castle, with the top half of a armored woman grafted onto it. An absolutely insane amount of magical energy radiating from the creature. "And this time, I'm going to be the one eating you!"

* * *

Lolth

Race: Spider God (Divine Beast)

Status: Normal

Level 2/99

HP: 58123 MP: 10023 STR: 10274 END: 16967

AGI: 2020 INT: 1253 MGC: 8425 DEX: 1643

Skills: Darkness Resistance: LvMax, Darkness Nullification: Lv3, Poison Resistance: LvMax, Poison Nullification: LvMax, Dark Magic: LvMax, Darkness Magic: Lv7, Poison Magic: LvMax, Decay Magic: LvMax, Fang Arts: Lv8, Fang Technique: Lv6, Spear Arts: LvMax, Divine Spear Arts: Lv3, Spear Techniques: Lv9, Dread: Lv9, Leap: Lv7, Mental Resistance: Lv9, Shorten Chant: LvMax, Chantless Magic: Lv5, Summon Kin: LvMax, Overload Summoning: LvMax, Diamond Skin: LvMax, Night Vision, Automatic HP Recovery, Automatic MP Recovery, Shell Reinforcement, Magic Manipulation, Poison Spray: LvMax, Poison Fog: LvMax, Lasso: LvMax

Extra Skills: God-Slaying Poison Generation

Description: Lolth, the Goddess of Decay, was an S-rank Divine Beast which once terrorized all of the Eastern Continent, along with her many children. Not much is known about this monstrous being, but it is said to have poison powerful enough to even kill other Divine Beasts. Though many a hero tried, none could face this monstrous being. However, its reign was brought to an abrupt end when it itself was devoured by Fenrir, the Gluttonous God Eating Wolf.

* * *

**I lowered Lolth's stats to being only around half those of a normal Divine Beast, with the logic that she has been sitting around waiting to be reincarnated, and that lowers her stats. (That's why she is a level 2)**

**So yeah, even those stats are low for a Divine Beast.**

* * *

**Alright, I'm confused now. Apparently, Shishou could absorb Extra and Innate skills, he just wasn't always absorbing them. So it isn't that Fran couldn't kill a Wyvern and suddenly gain the ability to fly (Flying is confirmed to being a Skill), the Author was just not acknowledging it. As for what the difference is between Extra Skill that can be absorbed and those that can't, I still don't know.**

**Fuck it, I'm keeping the rule that Archer can't absorb Innate and Extra skills. No killing fishes and suddenly being able to breath underwater even though you don't have gills. And no killing spiders and being able to generate your own poison, even without poison pouches.**

**Just so you are all aware, the breathing water and generating poisons are things that Fran really gets in canon, though they never see any use. She can breath underwater, and her blood was turned poisonous. **


	32. Chapter 32

Art and Amanda had an easy time defending Archer's sword body from wave after wave of E and D-rank monsters while the sword's spirit was elsewhere.

The dozens of various spider themed Demonic Beasts lay dead before them, from more Trick and Trickster Spiders to odd monstrosities that looked like spider bodies with the heads of eels attached to them. None latest long. Art barely even contributed as Amanda annihilated everything that moved, even as they were trying to manifest. Amanda wasn't even using any of her mana to perform [Whip Techniques] or make use of her weapon's [Length Control] effect.

She just stood on the top step, right in front of the Dungeon Core, and tore whatever came within thirty meters into pieces.

"Big sis sure is scary." Art mumbled as she stood behind Amanda, watching her relieve stress on the monsters. Part of her wanted to join in, but it wasn't really necessary and she kind of didn't want to get in the way.

"Things at this level are no trouble at all. There could be a thousand of them coming all at once, and it wouldn't make a single difference." Amanda said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Honestly, dealing with these pests is rather boring."

"Boring huh?" Art said, her head drooping.

Fran never found any fighting boring. Whether it was a G-rank or a B-rank, she always fought her best.

Art had been by Fran's side constantly since the moment she had first came into the world. So while some might think that two weeks was a short time, it was literally Art's entire life time. Not having Fran with her felt wrong, and not sharing their telepathic link through her [Familiar of the Sword] title felt even wronger. Now, with Archer's mind inside of the Dungeon Core, she couldn't feel him either. Art had never felt so alone in her entire life, all two weeks of it. She was so worried that she couldn't think straight.

"Sorry for asking, and you don't have to tell me but, who is this Rani person?" Amanda asked as she disinterestedly held the line.

"We're not really sure. She's helped mom and Fran out before with some stuff, and has the ability to access some kind of archive of information, but we don't really know anything about her. Mom seems to trust her though, and that's good enough for me."

"Is that so?" Amanda said with a sigh. "An intelligent weapon, a demon familiar and now strange voices that are capable of directly interfering with a Dungeon Core, things sure are interesting around Fran."

"Demon familiar!?" Art choked, her eyes widened with panic before she shook herself. "Amanda, what are you talking about… there is no demon familiar."

Amanda gave the girl a small smile. "Art, it's fine. No matter what you are, you are still a child and so I love you regardless." The A-rank woman said gently.

"...I don't know if that is comforting or concerning." Art said flatly, gaining a laugh for the half-elf woman.

Suddenly, all of the Demonic Beasts that were still just out of range of Amanda's whip seized up before collapsing to the ground, their entire bodies dissolving into dust, the same way they would if their Dungeon Master had just been recently killed.

If the Dungeon Master dies, all Dungeon Monsters that had yet to be killed would completely disappear, meaning that if a high rank monster was in the dungeon, you couldn't target its Dungeon Core to get the materials without having to do the work. But the bodies of everything that had already been killed still remained.

"Looks like whatever they did worked." Amanda said as the Dungeon Monsters disappeared. "With all of the Demonic Beasts disappearing, Fran should be safe. Now we just have to get to her."

"Right. Come on Mom, let's get moving." Art said, ready to start trying to find her best friend and sister… Only Archer didn't respond. "Mom, are you in there? Hurry it up already." Anxiety grew as Art still couldn't feel the presence of Archer's spirit. "...Mom?"

Her heart sank as black splotches began to grow on Archer's once beautiful silver blade. A powerful decaying magic entering the blade.

"Mom!" Art screamed. Only her instructions not to move the blade before Archer and Rani returned and a primal instinct stopped her from reaching out for the blade. A fear of that taint overwhelmed her, forcing her to take a step back. "No. This isn't happening. Please tell me this isn't happening."

"Something's coming." Amanda said, dragging Art's attention back. In the middle of the room's entrance a small line appeared in the air. It wasn't a Dungeon Summoning. Someone was using [Dimensional Magic] in order to teleport directly into the room, something that should have been impossible without a marker of some kind. The line slowly opened, revealing a dark rift, and out of the darkness came three figures, each twice the size of a normal man. "What are those?"

Amanda had ever seen such Demonic Beasts, or even heard of them. They seemed to be chimera-types, being a mishmash of features belonging to other creatures. They had the taloned legs of a bird of prey, with long lanky arms with the weblike wings of a bat, ending in humanoid hands that gripped their weapons. Their entire torsos were covered in a mixture of thick fur and feathers, and their heads were those of an owl, with elk-like ears and antlers growing out of them.

Of the three, one stood in the front, slightly taller than the other two, with white fur and feathers instead of brown. While the others carried a sword and shield, this figure had a long wooden staff covered in runes. While the other two gave off the energy of B-rank Demonic Beasts, the front one was even stronger, bordering A-rank.

Amanda had never seen nor heard of such creatures, but Art had. "Kipines? What are they doing here?" Just like the Demons were the subjects of the Goddess of Chaos, the Kipines were the guardians of the Goddess of Wisdom's sacred library, and almost never left the Divine Realm. What the hell were they doing in a low rank dungeon of all places?

The white Kipine narrowed its black eyes as it stared past Art and towards Archer's sword body. "So that blasphemous weapon has been reforged after all." The creature said, its higher pitched hooting voice seeming smug. "Did the Angel really believe that we wouldn't notice its presence in the Between World? That certainly wasn't very 'Wise' of it." The other two began to hoot as well, as if it had been a funny joke. "Hm?"

Their laughter stopped as the sword began to glow and the black marks on its surface disappeared.

"Tch, it would seem that the Angel has already regained enough power to resist even the God-Slaying Poison." The white Kipine said with an annoyed tone. "No matter. We will simply have to destroy it ourselves."

The two shield wielding Kipine moved in front of the speaker and raised shields as large as a man as Amanda and Art reacted to the threat. Heavy lashes and powerful [Dark Magic] spells slammed against the shields, causing the two to have to take a step back, though no damage got through.

"Fufufu, I'm sorry, but were you ignoring us?" Amanda said, playing with her whip.

"If you think I'm going to let you put a single figure on Mom, forget it!" Art growled, raising up her own sword, which began to glow with her demonic strength.

"Meaningless pests." The white Kipine mumbled as it raised its staff, causing the other two to glow from the power of his [Support Magic]. "We will just have to deal with them first."

* * *

The moment the castle sized spider-woman started to reach out for Rani, Archer moved, sweeping the girl off her feet and carrying her out of the way of the massive hand, just as Rani's barrier, which had protected her from stray attacks earlier, ripped, as if it had been made from nothing more durable than tissue paper.

Holding Rani close to him, Archer used his free hand to toss a copy of Kuroko as hard as he could at the outstretched arm. The blade simply bounced off, leaving not even a scratch.

"Get back here!" Lolth screamed, swinging out her arms, trying to catch the Servant as he avoided her grasp, moving just out of range and forcing the giant to lung. As the creature went airborne, Archer stuck close to its leg joints, slashing the leg with all he had, only for his blade to shatter, with no visible damage at all. Failing to injure the Divine Beast, Archer slipped past and escaped the monster's line of sight, momentarily.

However, as its massive body slammed into the ground, it let out a wave of dust, dust that caused Archer to choke. His entire body felt like it was on fire as he struggled to keep moving, dodging Lolth's flails and struggling to remain out of sight.

Even with his Servant's body, the poison was too much. His skin began to black before falling away as the poison melted the flesh from his bones. His lungs were quickly turning to liquid from the singular breath he had inhaled. But even as he fell to pieces, he continued to move, and doing his best to use his Mana to push the toxins away from the girl in his arms.

He couldn't let that monster touch her. He had to protect her. He had to know if it was really her. If she was really who she looked like. If she was his former Master, Hakuno.

His vision was failing him as his eyes began to melt in their sockets, he couldn't hear anymore since his eardrums had burned away. His entire body was screaming in agony. He knew he was far past the point of no return, yet he still moved. His soul sensing his surroundings, as his body no longer could.

{135 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Upgrading [Parallel Processing] to [Concurrent Consciousness]... Upgrade complete. Increasing the levels of [Healing Magic] and [Purification Magic] to LvMax… Complete. [Purification Magic] LvMax has unlocked [Holy Magic]. Increasing [Holy Magic] to LvMax... Complete. Using [Skill Specialization] to upgrade [Healing Magic] LvMax and [Holy Magic] LvMax to [Healing Magic SP] and [Holy Magic SP]... Upgrade complete. Consuming [Healing Magic SP] and [Holy Magic SP]... Process Complete. [Angelic Magic] has been unlocked.}

{Casting [Angelic Magic] spells, [Angelic Protection] and [Angelic Restoration].}

Archer gasped as his entire body began to glow, his decaying flesh mending itself in a near instant and the poison purified from his body.

The sudden recovery was so jarring that Archer nearly stumbled, and even it that hadn't been so surprising, the sight of Rani, still in his arms, glowing with the same power as angel-like wings spread out behind her certainly was.

The girl was panting, her eyes unfocused.

"Are you alright?" Archer asked as he continued to move.

"Just… tired." She replied. "This system will need to rest. But first we must escape. Something is blocking my attempts to leave the Between Worlds. It will take time to undo their work." Archer picked up the hint that Lolth wasn't the actual one blocking them and filed away that information for later. For now, he needed to put his full focus into surviving.

Screaming in frustration, the Divine Beast changed its tactics. Magic circles appear in the sky, hundreds of them, and from each circle dropped a B or A-rank Demonic Beast. While similar in shape to Lolth, these human-spider hybrids ranged in size from cars to elephants, and therefore looked tiny in comparison to their mother.

"Nameless, you will need to keep them busy while this system unlocks our retreat." Rani said.

"I Am The Bone Of My Sword." Hundreds of copies of the "Mithril Sword of Fiery Explosions" appeared in the air, trained on the spiders that had just appeared before firing at high speeds, logging themselves into the hairy bodies of dozens of the spider monsters, focusing mostly near their joints, before exploding. While it didn't straight up kill the creatures, it certainly took off several limbs, with only the A-rank specimen being left in any kind of condition to fight after being hit by a volley. "Understood. I won't let them reach you." Archer said as he carpet bombed the area.

* * *

Art and Amanda weren't having an easy time of it, with how sturdy those damned shields were.

The brown Kipines might not have had much offensive power, but they sure knew how to make themselves pains in the ass, constantly getting in the way while their magic using friend pelted the two Adventurers with spells from the safety.

Ranged attacks weren't working, forcing Art and Amanda to go in close if they wanted to fight. But such a fight wasn't a fair one. With [Support Magic] buffs and strong equipment, the two frontliners weren't going to be brushed off easily, and while their swordsmanship was laughably weak in comparison to Fran's and none existent when compared to Archer's, they seemed to have at least Lv7 [Sword Arts] as far as Art could tell.

Probably gifted to them by their Goddess of Wisdom, same as the magic, since the idea of those bird brains even figuring out which end of the sword was the pointy one on their own was almost non-existent, let alone learning actual magic.

The Kipine were a joke among those who served the Gods and Goddesses as while they were physically strong, had high perception skills, and possessed large quantities of mana, they were dumb as bricks, despite having the Goddess of Wisdom as their patron Deity.

Many of the Demons speculated this was because there was no way that the Goddess of Wisdom would ever allow a creature capable of reading within a hundred miles of her personal library, which she guarded with a level of jealous suspicion that was borderline ludicrous, even attempting to curse other Gods who dared to stand on its doorstep.

With all the training Art had done with Archer, she should have had no problem stomping those stupid freaks. The only problem was, while she had tons of experience fighting against swords and whips, she didn't have so much experience with shields. And with their already high physical stats being boosted even higher, they were easily five times stronger and faster than Art was.

An unfortunate [Shield Bash] caught the girl in the shoulder, sending her flying back into the wall of the Dungeon Core Room so hard that it cracked the strengthened walls, before falling into one of the clusters of Mana Crystals that littered the room. "Ouch." Art mumbled as she pulled herself up out of the crystals.

It didn't hurt so bad. Strong as the Kipine were, the shield was blunt damage and her Little Demon Set was the real deal, absorbing nearly all of the force. The Demoness was more worried that Archer might have seen that. Nothing those Kipine did to her could ever match the kind of training she would have to endure if her mom ever found out she had been hit by such a low rank skill.

However, being thrown into the Mana Crystals did give her an idea. Using her wind magic to give Amanda the heads up, Art started to chant, drawing in the power of all of the Crystals around her. She discarded her [Racial Mimicry], using the power and focus to further her attack.

"In Madness there is Sense! In Death there is New Life! Be the power which ushers Change into this Stagnant World!" Sensing the massive spike in Mana, the two frontline fighters moved into the path of the attack, quickly raising their shields as the white Kipine cast a spell over them to increase their magic defense even more. "[Pandemonium Bomb]!"

The giant ball of black and white fire flew towards the defenders, slamming into the shields with enough force to cause the entire room to rattle and break. But even this attack wasn't enough. The Magic Armor of the Goddess of Wisdom's personal guards wasn't anything to scoff at, and their own natural defenses and the [Support Magic] was too strong.

But it hadn't been meant to kill them, only to force them to defend.

"You're mine now." Amanda said with a toothy grin. While Art kept the two brown beasts occupied, Amanda had circled about and targeted the white Kipine. Using [Elemental Weapon] to pump her weapon with wind magic, Amanda unleashed her [Thousand Lashes].

The whip blurred as it reached speeds exceeding what the eye could follow, striking the Kipine from all angles, not once letting up. It was a move that had killed many A-rank Demonic Beasts, yet to Amanda's surprise, the white Kipine seemed unaffected by the attack as it raised its staff and fired off a powerful blast of light magic, which Amanda easily evaded.

"Damn it, they have [Divine Shield Techniques]." Amanda said as the two brown furred Kipine staggered, and bled. The wounds that should have been on the white furred leader appearing instead on their bodies, as they had absorbed and mitigated all of the damage.

"That's right. Our goddess made sure to give us all complementary skills." The white fur boosted as it wordlessly cast a [Greater Heal] spell with a wave of its staff, restoring the two pawns back up to perfect health in seconds.

Amanda inwardly swore. She had seen this type of skill before. Normally, it would be a huge drain on mana in order to sustain, but there was little doubt that the bastards equipment gave them the means to continuously use it, so a war of attrition wasn't in the cards, and in order to kill the white Kipine directly, she would need to do enough damage to kill all three of them two times over.

Their only option was to target the shield users first and find a way to get through their guards. But that was next to impossible. Not unless they could somehow take them by surprise. "You might as well surrender now. There is no way that weaker beings like you could ever…"

The white Kipine's gloat was cut short by an unexpected surge of mana from behind the Demonic Beasts.

Before they could react, something bolted from outside of the doorway and slammed into the back of one of the shielders, driving a weapon deep into the creature's neck. Amanda and Art were as surprised as the Kipine as the hybrid monster collapsed to the ground, revealing the small black haired Beastkin still clinging to the sword that had penetrated the monster's neck, taking its head from its shoulders.

"You started without me." Fran said, seeming a little annoyed, as she stood up on top of the monster's back, the blade she had just used crumbling into pieces from being overcharged with wind magic.

"Fran!" Art cheered.

"Where did you come from!" The Kipine mage screamed in surprise. With Fran's [Magic Concealment] she had gone completely unsensed by the monsters until the moment she had activated all of her skills to deliver a killing blow to the monster's exposed backside.

The remaining shielder turned around to face the new enemy, but that only showed its back to Amanda and Art. Before it could even move, a bolt of black and white energy slammed into its back, followed by the head of Amanda's whip, which took off the creature's entire head.

While this was happening, Fran jumped down and crossed the room to Art and Amanda, with Art welcoming her back with a hug. "You're alright! You're alright!"

"Nn? Why wouldn't I be?" Fran asked, tilting her head.

"Huh? But… the Trickster Spider…"

"Nn… Disappointingly weak."

"..." Art couldn't think what to say to that, so she just snorted with laughter.

"You… you…" The remaining Kipine growled angrily. "It matters not, even in death, they will still serve the Goddess." With another wave of its staff, necrotic energy filled the air, channeling into the freshly dead bodies of the Kipine which started to steer and return to their feet, even though both were now missing their heads. "You have not beaten us yet… Wait, what are you doing?"

Fran ignored the Kipine as she walked up the stairs to the Dungeon Core and picked up Archer's sword.

Seeing the small girl lifting up the blade, the white Kipine stumbled backwards, seeming to tremble in fear for a moment before starting to laugh its hootish laugh again. "Do you think I am afraid of that empty weapon!? With the Angel's soul stuck in the Between World, that sword is nothing more than a useless piece of scra…!"

The Kipine stopped talking as the zombie Kipine instantly collapsed as they were hit by a powerful [Turn Undead] spell, canceling out the Kipine's own [Raise Dead]. Then a wave of killing intent rolled over it, causing a owl pellet to shoot up in its throat. The owl equivalent of shitting itself in fear.

[You were saying?] A cold voice said in the back of the creature's mind as the sword itself spoke to him.

"N...No… That's not possible!" The creature shouted as it backed away. Then, turning around, it quickly swung out its staff, casting a [Long Jump] Spell in order to teleport away before anyone could stop it.

[So... Who were they?] Archer asked.

Fran's only reply was a shrug.

She didn't have a clue what was going on, but hey, she grew a level out of it.

* * *

(New title unlocked: Angel | Awarded to one who possessed [Angelic Magic]. | Grants [Curse Immunity] and increases the effectiveness of all healing and holy magic.)

* * *

Archer's remaining Self-Evolution Points: 81

* * *

**Update on Fran's stats.**

Name: Fran

Age: 12

Race: Black Catkin

Job: Magus Killer (Lv30)

Status: Normal

Level: 36/45

HP: 421, MP: 364, STR: 253, END: 204, AGI: 232, INT: 182, MGC: 201, DEX: 185

Titles: Fire Mage, Lord of Cooking, Lord of Dismantling, Lord of Digging, Skill Collector, Incarnation of the Sword, Favored of the Goddess of Chaos, Cadet of Hell's Training, Lord of Climbing, Goblin Slayer, Insect Slayer, Demon Slayer, Dragon Slayer, Recovery Mage, Wind Mage, One Man Army, One Who Slaughters, Big Game Hunter, Skill Maniac, (New) Earth Mage, (New) Sandstorm Mage, (New) Lava Mage, (New) Lady Killer, (New) Giant Slayer, (New) Annihilator of Demonic Beasts, (New) Bad Target for Ambush, (New) Angel

Equipment: Nameless, Black Cat Set

* * *

**Some more about Rani's true nature is being hinted at here, with her being able to access the Sword's skills while Archer couldn't, as well as what the Kipine's were saying.**

**It has been hinted at in canon that the Goddess of Wisdom has some kind of grudge against the sword, but I haven't read far enough to know why. So the reason I'm giving is that the Sword stole knowledge from the Goddess's library. Maybe it was her diary or something.**

* * *

**The Kipine were just something I saw on a D&D site about home brewed stuff. Some kind of mutant Owlbear. While they have enough intelligence to understand basic language, they are by no means smart.**

* * *

**Just so you are all aware, even with Noble Phantasms, Nameless still won't stand much of a chance against a true Divine Beast, even a weakened one. Not without his full power as a Heroic Spirit/Pseudo Counter Guardian. Limited by his nature as a Servant, and with limits on what he can trace, he is nowhere near strong enough to even seriously injure Lolth.**

**This will be a driving force for Archer, as he realizes that nothing they have could let them fight an S-rank threat on even footing.**

**And before any of you start talking about your favorite Noble Phantasms to kill it with, that Spider has roughly 6 times as much Defense as Berserker. It is tanky as fuck. Caladbolg won't kill it. And since it is the size of a goddamn castle, restraining it with the golden chains will be difficult when they would only fit around part of one of its legs.**

**(16967 END * 4 (Diamond Skin LvMax multiplier) = 67,868 | Servant stats of A is 5,000, A+ is 10,000) **


	33. Chapter 33

So, this is the best he can do? A weapon surpasses any he have seen before in this world. A weapon that could cut through an B-rank Demonic Beast as if it was made of butter and could even kill A-rank threats with minimal Reinforcements.

And yet, it is still not good enough.

* * *

(New Title Unlocked: Divine Blacksmith)

* * *

The battlefield was absolute chaos as more and more Demonic Beasts poured endlessly from the sky, with Archer doing everything he could to destroy, distract, dodge and disengage from them all, while simultaneously clutching Rani to his chest with one arm.

Each of the Demonic Beasts had stats comparable to that of a Servant, and were neither unarmed or wholly unacquainted with their weapons, most having some form of Divine level Weapon Art or Magic skill. The entire thing reminded Archer of a vague memory of Alexander the Great's Reality Marble. Something that even Servants won't want to be on the receiving end of.

Magic and arrows rained down upon them from those creatures created lucky enough to have a means of ranged attack. Less because it kept them safe from Archer, and more because they didn't have as much to fear from their mother.

The B-rank monsters were difficult to deal with as they swarmed all over him, but in the last few weeks, Archer had created magic blades strong enough to injure them when fired, making dealing with individuals nothing more than a drain than an immediate threat. It was the A-rank threats that were the true danger up close, as anything short of his best weapons swung with considerable strength wouldn't do much more that leave flesh wounds on the creatures. Something that was proving difficult while holding onto Rani.

This probably would have been more of a problem, if Lolth could aim for shit. It seemed not to care at all how many of its children it killed, probably because it could just summon more. After swinging at Archer again and again, only to have the Servant dodge each and every attack, the Divine Beast had decided to rely on magic to try and deal with the problem.

The [Darkness Bomb] rose up into the sky, a sphere the size over forty feet in diameter, which exploded in the air, breaking into thousands of smaller blasts. And by smaller, Archer meant balls the size of a small car. With the attack being less aimed than merely thrown out, it was just as much of a danger to the Spider God's own summons as it was to Archer.

"Steel is my Body and Fire is my Blood." Archer chanted as he called up copy after copy of a specially made weapon he had created to deal with magical attacks. The [Anti-magic Mithril Sword] had a very unusual enchantment on it that caused a bend it space that created a mana dead zone in a ten foot radius around it. Each time the magic bombs came into contact with one of the swords, there would be a flash as the spell destabilized and exploded in midair.

All around him, the Demonic Beasts were being caught up in friendly fire, with even A-rank monsters being simply erased by the [Darkness Magic].

*Whoosh*

Archer ducked, letting an arrow pass behind his left shoulder. It had been fired from one of the dozens of archers who were trying to keep him in their sights, even as the world was falling apart around them.

[Divine Bow Arts] Lv3. Good enough to hit a bullseye from a mile away, with bows capable of firing heavy projectiles at twice the speed of sound. Any human would have been dead in an instant from just one such sniper, but Archer managed to keep track of all of them while at the same time, while guarding himself from the rain of death, killing the Beasts that tried to swarm him and dodging the lunges and swipes from the mother spider herself.

Archer's [Eye of the Mind] was showing its worth as he managed to keep himself afloat in that sea of danger, though he deeply regretted not having access to [Parallel Processing] as his traces became sluggish as more and more things demanded his attention.

Feeling pressured, Archer traced a copy of the "Thundering Sword" in the air above him before dropping the weapon he had in his right hand and using the hand to cover Rani's ears, even as he reinforced his own to guard against what was coming.

*BOOM!*

The weapon exploded, not in a burst of flame, but in a blinding flash of light and a deafening noise.

Using the moment of destruction, Archer bolted at full speed towards the bow-spiders, covering the distance before the sword fully crumbled away and the light it admitted faded.

Tracing Shiroko in his right hand, he quickly lobbed the head off of one of the spiders before tossing the blade at another, lodging it in the monster's head. He managed to get four of the snipers down before the rest of the horde had managed to locate where he had gone.

But even as he killed them, more rained down from the sky to take their place.

The battle was endless. No matter how many of them he killed, Lolth could simply summon more, and killing the Divine Beast was simply an impossibility. Kuroko and Shiroko, blades that could be considered on par with a low E-rank anti-unit Noble Phantasm, couldn't even scratch the creature's surface, even if Archer [Broke] them. The pair could barely handle the A-rank Demonic Beasts, and the mother had at least quadruple their stats, even if one didn't take into account it's utterly broken skills raising the stats even further.

With its high Divinity and Magic Resistance, most conceptual weapons would be worthless against it, as its reason was simply of a higher order.

The only way Archer could beat something like this was if he had the unlimited Mana gifted to Counter Guardians by the world itself, with which he could force a miracle and trace Excalibur.

This battle was getting them nowhere fast, with Archer being able to avoid damage and Lolth being too ridiculous to damage.

This would normally be where Archer would smirk knowingly as his opponent wasted its mana with all of these summonings and large scale AOE attacks. Hard as its body was when fully reinforced, once it was out of mana, Archer might even have a shot at taking it down with one well timed and aimed Noble Phantasm. But for some reason, Lolth didn't seem to be running out of Mana at all.

It was the children. Every time one of the 'smaller' spiders died, its Mana would be reabsorbed by the mother, and while an A-rank Demonic Beast took over 1000 Mana to summon, each of them had over 3000 Mana. It created a vicious cycle as Lolth regained her strength by killing and resummoning her own kin.

So despite throwing around powerful magic like it was free candy, the monster was never going to run out, and even if Archer had a larger Mana pool to start out with and was pacing himself, using no more swords than was absolutely necessary, his reserves would run out first.

{Let me use [Support Magic] to sustain you.} Rani suggested using her telepathy, as Archer deflected a spear before slipping by its wielder, using it as a living shield against oncoming attacks.

(No, keep all of your focus on getting us out of here.) Archer said quickly. [Support Magic] wouldn't make a difference. Even if Archer's parameters all magically tripled, he still wouldn't be capable of solving the underlying problem, and with the cost of [Support Magic] scaling with the strength of the target, it would suck Rani dry just trying to support his Servant body. The [Angelic Magic] had already taken far too much out of her.

After everything was said and done, Archer had enough Mana to keep this up for twenty minutes. If Rani couldn't get them out by then, it was all over.

{An exit route has been secured.} Rani informed him.

(Wait, really?)

{That is correct. However, in order for this system to pull us out, we will need to stand still.}

(Alright, just give me the signal whenever you're ready.)

{...for ten seconds.}

(...Please tell me you are shitting me.)

Ten seconds? Standing still in the middle of this chaos for ten seconds? She might as well have asked for ten years.

Nothing short of Avalon or a similar Divine Construct would be capable of defending them for ten whole seconds if they attracted Lolth's eye. Nothing that Archer had forged thus far would even come close to blocking her attacks for that long, and the limited pool of Noble Phantasms he could call on under his current conditions didn't provide anything that came close.

Defending was out of the question, but how about distractions? Could he manage to keep them all misdirected for ten whole seconds? The odds seemed bleak. But if he could buy even a few seconds, then perhaps he could stagger Lolth long enough to get out if he threw everything he had remaining at her.

He didn't have many other options. It was between this and continuing to fight, hoping that they could last long enough for a better solution to be found, all the while draining Archer's not unlimited Mana pool.

Archer filled Rani in on the plan before tracing yet another "Thundering Sword", causing another massive flash and bang. Quick as he could, Archer made himself scarce, moving to a less populated position and putting Rani down.

"I have created over a Thousand Blades." Archer stated to the world, manifesting up the swords to clear away the nearby enemies in order to give them space as Rani started the extraction process.

The snipes were the first to spot the pair and started to fire on them, forcing Archer to stand his ground and deflect the arrows as best he could, requiring him to merely accept a few to his less vital areas as he focused himself and drew on more and more of his mana, ready to burn it all at once. "Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life. Have withstood Pain to create many Weapons."

Four seconds. It had only taken Lolth four seconds to locate them, and now her and her army were starting to move. It was now or never, so Archer called on a sword, on that felt close to him, though he had never understood why.

The Golden Sword of the Victorious.

"Sword of Selection, grant me power and cleave through the wicked!" Archer said as he put more and more of his mana into stabilizing the trace, forcing the world into recognizing his version of reality as true. Making it accept the legend that he knew by heart. The long blade glowed with golden light, radiating power and majesty. As the Divine Beast raised its own hands and fired a powerful [Darkness Lance] towards Archer and Rani, the Servant thrust forward Arturia's sword. "[Caliburn]!"

The burst of mana shot forth from the blade, so powerful that the blade itself cracked, easily pushing through Lolth's own attack before slamming into the Spider God. The light from it was nearly blinding, but that didn't stop Archer's Clairvoyant eyes from seeing everything. B-rank and even A-rank Demonic Beasts caught in the blast were simply turned to dust, their defenses being insignificant in the face of Caliburn's raw power. However, the same could not be said for the Goddess of Decay.

Lolth might have been slightly stunned and even made to take a step back, but the wound it suffered was only a burn that covered a good deal of its upper torso. An injury that was rapidly healing as Archer watched.

However, the stunned look didn't last forever as the Spider Queen let out a furious roar, preparing itself to counter attack.

{Two… One… Exiting the Between World..} Rani said, pulling the pair away as the Divine Beast was charging its next attack.

Archer watched and understood. In this world, where the Age of Gods still continues, there were powerful enemies.

He was going to need a bigger sword.

* * *

"What do you mean it isn't good enough!?" Gallus said, looking at Archer as if the man had spoken blasphemy. "It is a Godblade! How could it not be good enough!?"

[It isn't a Godblade.] Archer mumbled as he looked over his newest creation. The beautiful silver blade shone like the light of the moon reflected on a pool of water, its Orichalcum gold runes glowing along its surface. It was a weapon that vastly exceeded all those he had made before, on the level of a C++ Rank Noble Phantasm. It was a weapon that could even cut through an A-rank Demonic Beast's defenses, without the need for Archer's Servant levels of strength. During the full moon, it was the equal to Caliburn under it's optimum conditions.

But it still was simply not powerful enough. Not when you consider that the S-rank Divine Beasts exist. Even this blade was almost useless against them.

Lolth had been weakened from thousands of years spent waiting for her reincarnation. She'd also been unarmed when her stats declared she should have had a spear. Meaning the still active S-rank threats would be even more powerful, and not by a small margin.

The blade was strong, but he would need better.

* * *

Name: The Sword of Dreams: Lumiose

Attack:6000 Mana: 0/10000 Durability:10000/10000 Mana Channel: SSS+

Skills:

Principle of an Element (Mirror): Lv7, Moon Phase Empowerment: LvMax, Bestow Moonlight Magic, Fortify Resolve, Moonlight Absorption, Gather Hopes, Mark for Leadership, Self-Repairing

Special Skill:

Moon Beam Blade

* * *

"Not a Godblade? How could this not be a Godblade?" Gallus said as he looked over the blade, his eyes going misty as he did.

[Because it isn't. The power in this blade comes from its design and the Moonlight Dragon's Magic Core. There is no divine power in the blade.] Archer said as he mentally bit his lip. [It was impossible to make a Godblade from these materials to begin with.]

After creating Lumiose, Archer's [Magic Blacksmithing] reached its max level, and with it, came the secrets to how to create a 'Godblade'.

[The only way to create a Godblade is to use parts from a Divine Beast. Only with divine materials can the weapons channel divine power.] Archer grumbled. [I'm stuck in a catch 22. In order to create a Godblade, you have to use the materials from an S-rank Divine Beast, but in order to stand a chance at killing such a monster, you need a Godblade.]

"Kill an S-rank threat?" Gallus said in shock. "You aren't honestly thinking of trying something so ludicrous, are you?" Archer didn't reply, causing the Dwarf to sulk. "Forget it. Mortals can't fight against Divine Beasts. The only cases in history when mortals ever successfully defeated a Divine Beast was over a thousand years ago when ten S-rank Adventurers all banded together, and all ten of them using Godblades. Much as I would like to see you create a true Godblade, it isn't worth dying over."

[...You're right.] Archer said, not being honest with the Dwarf. He couldn't risk the man squealing to Fran. Even her resolve might not survive the truth.

After they returned from the near disastrous mission to the spider dungeon, Archer looked around to research the still active S-rank Divine Beasts. After all, with the Blessing of the Goddess of Chaos, it wasn't unlikely that the monsters wouldn't get triggered if they got too close.

Most of the S-rank Divine Beasts that still lived within the mortal realm were passive beings, spending most of their time napping, and only really targeted Demonic Beasts for food, as human-likes just weren't large or tasty enough. While these creatures could destroy entire continents in an afternoon if they were annoyed, they rarely ever moved.

However, there was one notable exception.

Monster created by a race of Dragonkin, who lived in the southern continent, using parts of the Evil God's body. The S-rank Evil Being, the Abyssal One. Apparently, even the Gods found it difficult to kill that abomination, and instead sealed it away in a barrier that stretched over nearly the entire continent, where it has been for over a thousand years.

Normally, Archer would say that means it isn't really their problem… except for one detail. The Abyssal One was a Divine Beast famous for possessing the extremely rare 'Auto-Death' ability.

Archer wanted to tell himself that there was no way. That this couldn't possibly be the key to the Black Catkin's Evolution. However, his gut told him this was probably the case. He just couldn't figure out why.

Maybe he was wrong. Their current plan shouldn't change. Getting Fran to level 45 had to come first, and if they found out that it truly was necessary… If they couldn't make a Godblade strong enough to do the job, they would just have to steal one... That wasn't going to be easy.

Matters for the future. They planned to leave in three days. Hopefully the girls would be ready to say their goodbyes. Until then, Archer would continue to look into things.

Lumiose was not strong enough to defeat a Divine Beast, but it would still function, for now.

* * *

**Gáe Bolg (and conceptual weapons at its level) don't effect Divine Beings or individuals with Divine Protection. **

**It is the unstoppable force/immovable object thing. When two opposing ideas clash, the stronger one wins out. Gáe Bolg can't pierce Berserker's God Hand, because God Hand is a stronger conceptual existence. Similarly, it wouldn't work on any higher being, because they are a more powerful conceptual existence.**

**Conceptual Weapons aren't all powerful. Otherwise Archer would have just stabbed himself with Rule Breaker to escape his fate. Most won't work against a true Divine Beast, even a weakened one.**

**So stop suggesting that Archer just use these things, because they simply wouldn't work. And for fuck sake, don't say he should just trace Excalibur or some other Divine Construct. If he can hardly even trace normal Noble Phantasms, what the hell makes you think he could make Excalibur?**

* * *

**I'm starting to wonder why there aren't more Percy Jackson stories in which the main character is a Half-Blood, but not from a god, being the child of a human and some kind of Monster/Spirit. Since then the unnatural parent would probably be the one in the picture, and they won't be offered the safety of Camp Half Blood by birth right.**

**Joking Starting Premise: Shirou is reincarnated as a Half Dark Elf, abandoned by his mother because Dark Elves are like that, and picked up and raised by a ****Huldra (A creature from Norse myth that is basically what you'd get if you crossed a ****satyr and a succubus**, **being guardians of the forest but also sucking out vitality from men's &&&&s. They look basically like normal women with bark on their backs and cow tails.****) He is brought back to an apartment complex where all of Mythologies biggest Man Eaters have banded together in order to survive and raise their half-breed kids in the modern world when the more monster like monsters are trying to eat them. All of them working as 'escorts' in order to fulfill their needs.**


	34. Chapter 34

"Divinity?" Klimt repeated, thinking for sure he must have heard wrong.

"That's correct. After the incident inside the Dungeon, I started to sense a small amount of Divine Energy coming from the child, exceeding that of a normal blessing. Though I can't even begin to guess why." Tarua said as he took control over Frion's body in order to give his report on the young Black Catkin.

And what a report it was, answering some of Klimt's questions, raising others and downright shocking him at times.

Art had been a Demon all along. Fran was accompanied by what Tarua believed to be one of the mythical Counter Guardians. All the Demonic Beasts in the dungeon spontaneously died. A group of extremely rare B-rank Demonic Beasts showed up out of nowhere for no reason they could understand. The challenge rating of the Dungeon seemed to have permanently increased from F-rank to C-rank. And to top it all off, Fran suddenly turning up in Tarua's vision as having some type of divine power, too strong to be a mere blessing.

Klimt had sent them out hoping that it would clear the air of all these mysteries, not drop even more on their heads. He had tried to ask Amanda for a report as to what happened, but she had blatantly refused to give one, saying she was taking the day off to go shopping with Fran and Art and to not disturb her if they knew what was good for them.

Most people would and indeed did say that this is just the normal belligerence one had to expect when dealing with an A-rank Adventurer, only this was different. This was not the usual casual dismissal of his problems. This had been an open threat. She was telling him that if he tried to dig into what had happened there that day, she would make him pay.

It must have involved Fran, and it must be something that Amanda was afraid of the consequences of it getting out. It was the only explanation. Even though they had only spent a week together, Amanda was deeply attached to the young catkin girl, even more than she was with other children.

After Amanda had told him that Fran was the daughter of two of her former orphans, Klimt did some digging and found out about the two high spirits children that Amanda had rescued from slavers and brought back to her orphanage where they became like Amanda's own children. The two of them eventually ran away to become Adventurers. Those he asked had confirmed Amanda's story about them, and had told him how close she had been to the two, and how heartbroken she had been when they ran away.

If forced to make a choice between her loyalties to the Guild and Fran, Amanda would likely choose the girl.

This put Klimt in an awkward position, as the King was definitely going to want to know how and why an already cleared Dungeon had suddenly gone up three threat level ranks. It was not something that had ever occurred before in history, as far as Klimt was aware.

It wasn't as though it was a bad thing. Without a Dungeon Master, no Dungeon Monster could exit the Dungeon to terrorize the surrounding area. And while the Dungeon's difficulty had increased more than a hundred times over, so did the benefits. Now, they would be forced to send at least 3 B-rank and 4 C-rank parties to the dungeon once a month in order to gather the materials, but the materials themselves would be over a hundred times more valuable.

Their little city was going to see an unprecedented economic boom once they managed to set up a system for going forward. Indeed, the top brass would be less worried about what had occurred then ravenous about how to recreate what happened.

The Goblin Dungeon was next to worthless, hardly even qualified to be called G-rank, and could only serve as basic training for the newest of rookies. The materials that could be gathered from the place weren't worth the trek over to gather them. But if it could have its rank boosted up to D-rank, suddenly it would become an extremely valuable resource, like an everlasting gold mine.

So on one side, Klimt was going to have greedy nobles and other Guild Masters, wanting to get to the bottom of what happened, and on the other side, Amanda, Archer, Art and Fran herself, who wanted him to ignore everything.

Well, which side he would support is obvious. Annoying as the Nobles might be, they didn't have the power and influence to overthrow the entire country. ...Then again, having Amanda as their new Monarch wouldn't be so bad.

If he wasn't fired over this, it would be a miracle. His only hope was to claim complete ignorance and hope that the people who were actually on the mission didn't squeal.

So long as the name 'Fran' never came up, this would all blow over.

"Tarua, what do you think is going on?" Klimt asked his nephew's Guardian Spirit.

"...I believe that the Gods are having some kind of power struggle and that the girl has somehow gotten herself caught up in it." Tarua said, scratching at Frion's chin as he said it. "The girl is blessed by the Goddess of Chaos and is accompanied by one of that Goddess's servants, her equipment holds to a blessing of the Beast God. On top of that is the Counter Guardian, a spirit which the Gods would not normally permit into this world, even in a weakened state. All these things point towards the Gods having an invested interest in the girl. However, the Kipine, the guards of the Divine Library, left the Divine Realm in order to attack her, suggesting that the Goddess of Wisdom is opposed to them."

The Goddess of Wisdom stands in opposition? The Wisdom Goddess had been one of the ones Klimt had figured to be blessing the girl, along with the Goddess of Magic. Goddess of Wisdom was thought of as being the creator of the system which oversees the distribution of Skills throughout the world, and has control over recorded history. Not one to be taken lightly. If angered greatly, an entire country could have its history erased, causing it to simply fall to pieces as all the treaties that supported it were forgotten.

Meanwhile, the Goddess of Chaos was considered a wild card, with influence equal to even the highest of Gods. She possessed the power to create Dungeons and through them could create just about anything, including Divine Beasts. Kingdoms had been made and destroyed by her Dungeons, and while rare, those who were marked by her blessing often made their way into legends, if only due to the madness that followed them wherever they went.

Then there was the Beast God, the creator of the original Beastkin, who was one of the ten original Gods, and was known to have fathered the Warrior God, the God of Cooking, the Goddess of Love and the Goddess of Seasons. Out of the original ten Gods, he was perhaps the one who took the most interest in the world, and had always taken notice of the strong. No individual who had received his blessings had ever failed to reach the level of power equal to an A-rank Adventurer, with several of histories S-rank Adventurer's baring his mark.

And these were only the three Gods who they knew had taken an interest in the girl. It was likely that there were still others in the shadows. How many of the 88 Gods were involved in whatever was happening?

This was getting far too complicated, and far too dangerous.

"When the Gods play their games, it is best for us mortals to simply find a good stone to hide under." Klimt said, rubbing his fingers over his eyes. "B and even A-rank Demonic Beasts have already appeared around her, and since they were defeated, things may escalate even further."

The man gave a heavy sigh.

He needed a vacation.

"Guild Master, there is a letter from the Count. He wants to schedule a conference to discuss recent events." Ms. Flannel reported through the door.

...Why did Elves have to be cursed with such long lives?

* * *

"Oh, that looks so cute on you two!" Amanda squealed as Fran and Art showed off the little sailor outfits that Amanda had picked out for them, complete with little caps that went over one of Fran's ears.

That day, Archer had wanted to focus entirely on his smithing, and had needed to have his sword body left at Gallus's shop while he worked. Meanwhile, Amanda took Art and Fran shopping around town for clothes and anything else they might want. Amanda had been little taken aback when Archer had handed over a sack of over ten million gorudos and told her to buy whatever the girls wanted, ignoring the fact that you could buy a dozen normal clothing stores for that much money.

Carol was right, the man had no idea about the value of money.

While, Amanda wasn't about to complain. They were having fun, visiting various food stands and buying all the things that a girl needed when heading towards the sea. Amanda had been shocked to learn that they had been using [Purification Magic] over basic skin care products, and had quickly taken the girls to a store that targeted Adventurers of the fairer sex to buy scentless creams, soap, shampoos and sunblock.

After that had been the expedition where they went from store to store buying swimwear and cute ocean themed outfits, since the girls would be spending a lot of time in the port towns in the near future.

But even as Fran showed off her new outfit, her hand went up to her left shoulder, and she shifted uncomfortably. "Is something wrong?" Amanda asked the girl.

"Nn. Everything's good." Fran said with a shake of the head, though Amanda smiled knowingly. Even if Archer was still technically equipped to her, and he was still in telepathic range, not having him there was making the girl uncomfortable.

He had been the one to free her from slavery and provided for her, and now she was attached to him. Her parents had been the same way. After Amanda had rescued them, they had followed her everywhere, practically hanging from her hips as she walked. They had been so skittish at the time, so incapable of feeling safe, that Amanda had to be in bed with them before they could go to sleep. They had cried every time she had to leave in order to do her job, and had been overjoyed when she came home in the evenings.

Even if their personalities seemed so different, Fran was so much like her mother at times that it dragged back all of the memories.

"Amanda: Alright?" Fran asked, causing the Half Elf to realize her eyes were watering.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just got a little something in my eye." Amanda said, wiping away the tears.

Fran walked over, throwing her arms around Amanda's waist and burying her head in the woman's stomach, taking Amanda by surprise. "Amanda should come with us."

"That's right! With the four of us as an Adventuring party, we'd be invincible!" Art agreed.

Amanda smiled at them as she patted Fran head. "In Adventuring, there is no such thing as an invincible party. No matter how strong you get, there is always something out there that is beyond your reach. Never let yourself believe that you have reached the top." She said gently. "And as much as I want to go with you girls, I'm afraid that I can't. My place is here. If I left, it is likely that Reidos would come poking its head into our lands again."

Fran squeezed Amanda a little harder as Art's face fell a little. "Will miss you." Fran mumbled.

"I'll miss you too." Amanda said, hugging the girl back. "Make sure to send me letters every time you stop at a new guild, alright?"

"Nn." Fran nodded, then her ears twitched. "Archer says that he's done."

"Is that so? Then why don't we all go take a look at this super weapon he's been working on?"

"Nn."

* * *

Fran slipped in through the back door of Gallus's forge, along with Art and Amanda, ready to see the latest sword that Archer had managed to forge.

She already knew that it wouldn't be a Godblade, as Archer's shared [Magic Blacksmithing] LvMax skill had already told her that the Magic Stone of an S-rank Divine Beast was required to create such a weapon, but even so, Archer's weapons had always been stronger than most overs around. Only Amanda's Magic Whip of the Sky Dragon's Whisker could boast an offense stronger than Kuroko and Shiroko, and only due to its [Control Weight] effect allowing her to drastically increase the momentum behind her attacks.

Though Archer always commented that it wasn't hard to create a powerful weapon if you simply plan on constantly breaking it.

"So, how did it go?" Art asked, all smiles as she entered the forge.

[Not as well as I had hoped, but as well as could be expected. It's a good sword.] Archer said as he used telekinesis to lift up the blade so that they could have a look at it.

It was a very pretty sword, though Fran knew that the gold of the hilt and runes was actually the legendary Orichalcum, rather than normal gold. It wasn't meant to be decorative. The only things there were the things that had to be there in order to serve its function. But even without the set pieces that usually decorated expensive weaponry, there was a beauty to it.

Fran knew that it was a blade that exceeded any that could be made by a normal blacksmith, if only based on what went in it. The materials and Magic Core of an A-rank Dragon, the legendary Orichalcum were among the most powerful materials out there, only surpassed by those of a Divine Beast, and the sheer amount of Mana.

Normally, the greatest limiting factors in the creation of a magical sword would be Mana supply, both the amount the blacksmith had and the amount the materials could take. Pure mithril couldn't accept more than around 200 units of mana at once without breaking, but Orichalcum was a nearly god-like material and, with the right impurities added, could accept several thousands all at once without breaking. Which was why it was the only material capable of creating a Godblade.

But even with these materials, you would need the Mana and control necessary to work with them. Even Gallus, who was high level for a blacksmith and had been training all his life, only had 273 MP to work with, and Mana Crystals were expensive. After using up his entire Mana supply, it would take hours of meditation in order for the dwarf to recover it. Even if he spent several millions of gorudo on Mana Crystals, there are disadvantages when controlling Mana from a Mana Crystal, which could ruin the weapon if he isn't careful. So unless he wanted to draw the process out over multiple days or buy expensive MP potions, he would have to make do with his own maximum Mana Pool. This was why most Magic Blacksmith's couldn't produce more than one powerful magic sword or armor in a week.

Meanwhile, with [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] going, creating him ten extra bodies, and [Body Split] to squeeze out one more, Archer had a total MP of over 50,000, with twelve [Automatic MP Regeneration] skills stacked together. Then his trick of regenerating all of his Mana when he ranked up. The total amount of Mana spent on that sword was over 120,000, enough Mana to perform a [True Resurrection] spell with their [Angelic Magic], something that Archer called a "True Magic".

According to Fran's [Magic Blacksmithing] skill, there had been countries which had spent tens of billions of gorudo in order to create Magic Swords that could compete with the Godblades, swords like "Crystalos", the Sacred Blade of Water, but they had required entire rooms full of Mana Crystals and several dozen Magic Blacksmiths to make, with a process that took weeks. Archer had created Lumiose by himself in just a few hours.

Archer really was amazing.

[What do you think of your new sword, Fran?]

Fran froze at Archer's words, not understanding what he was saying. "New… sword?" Fran had assumed that Archer was making the blade for his own use, like with Kuroko and Shiroko. Why was he saying that the sword was Fran?

Suddenly, the blade didn't look so pretty.

"Don't want it."

[What?]

"My sword: Archer." Fran said, stepping away from the new blade as she looked past it to where Archer's sword lay.

[At my current rate of growth, I'd have to be rank 45 before I could match Lumiose. Which would require us to absorb eight times as many Mana Stone Points as we have so far. If such a rank is even possible.]

"Archer is the only sword for me." Fran insisted with a shake of the head.

[With your strength and my blade, there is no way we can compete against true A-rank threats.] Archer said, not understanding why Fran was clinging to the weaker weapon. [On the battlefield, pride and sentimentality must be discarded. The only thing they will get you is death. If a sword can't protect you, then it is of no use.]

"Mom, you're joking, right?" Art said, as shocked as Fran was.

"I won't replace you." Fran said, shaking her head hard.

[Fran… For the sake of your evolution, you need a better sword. Even Lumiose is only a stepping stone.] Archer said.

His words caused Fran to feel a tightness in her throat.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't even imagine it. Even for the sake of Evolution, she could not replace Archer.

"Have you completely lost your mind!?" Amanda shouted, startling the girls. "I thought you were an arrogant ass before when you said that weapons are nothing more than tools, but I never thought that you would extend that to yourself!"

[Fran needs the best weaponry I can give her. Until now, that was my own blade, but I simply am not good enough.] Archer said solemnly. [She's outgrown me.]

"You have absolutely no idea how much you mean to that girl, do you?" Amanda said, crossing her arms. "You say that your blade isn't good enough, but it is already in the top hundred weapons in the country, even if you don't consider its unique abilities. Sure there are A-rank Demonic Beasts, and a few B-rank threats, that can't be easily killed by it, but you are overreacting."

[But there are enemies that she won't be able to beat with my blade. As a weapon, I am inadequate.]

"She needs you. Not just as a sword, but as support. It doesn't matter to her which is the stronger weapon, the one she wants is you. You are her Sword in the Stone." Amanda said, quoting the story that Archer had told her of Arturia and how she had loved Caliburn the most.

[...And just like Caliburn, I cannot compare to Excalibur.] Archer said calmly. [Simply maintaining the equipment contract with me is enough for her to get all of the benefits I can give her. In battle, she should use Lumiose.]

Fran moved to Archer and grabbed onto the strap that was hanging from his scabbard. "Don't care." Fran said. "Archer is the only weapon for me."

[...Fran.] Archer said, his thoughts sounding tired. [You aren't going to give up, are you?]

"Nn." Fran replied with a shake of the head.

[What an unreasonable Master I have. Honestly, all three of you act like spoiled children.]

"Hey! What do you mean three!?" Amanda said, blushing indignantly.

[Fine. Wield me in normal combat if you must, but if something does come along that I can't be, you WILL use Lumiose. Don't. Be. Stubborn.]

"No promises." Fran said, her face didn't change, but Archer could tell she was smiling cheekily on the inside.

* * *

**Next chapter, Archer beats up an A-rank Adventurer using spoons.**

* * *

**Just so you all know, the stats shown for that one Flame Godblade are the kind of stats that Shishou gets at rank 25 (I have no idea what/if the max rank is). It was not a Godblade that focused much on its blade, and there are implied to be Magic Swords that are stronger in that regard. So at the rate Archer is going, Archer would be equal to Lumiose in around 4 months.**

**Archer is already at the rank that Shishou was around chapter 300 (4 months into his adventures), because he doesn't not absorb every magic stone he can get his hand on for no reason. Archer basically accepts that his existence is suspicious and doesn't cripple himself trying to hide his advantages. Also, Archer, who would have been exposed to Rin's mood of thinking, would be much faster to come up with a concept as simply as buying Magic Stones.**

**Fran's current level is the same as her level becomes after she finishes the Lich's dungeon in canon.**

* * *

**This is a cause for confusion, but the sword actually has three consciousnesses:**

**Fenrir (the Divine Beast), who has the voice of an old man and is the source of the blade's absorption abilities (At least I think the old man is supposed to be Fenrir)**

**Rani/Announcer Voice (the Angel), who stores and manipulates the skills**

**Archer/Shishou, who control it since the other two are too weakened**

**It is shown that while Fenrir is the most suppressed identity, he has more self-awareness than the Announcer Voice. Either that or he is just lazy.**


	35. Chapter 35

Archer was still mentally exhausted, even a whole twenty four hours after he created Lumiose.

The several hours he had spent maintaining twelve separate bodies while using [Concurrent Consciousness] to split his thoughts into ten, while at the same time performing all of the calculations and spells needed to create the blade's enchantments and channeling an irresponsible amount of Mana, had been taxing on the spiritual level. The sword's inability to sleep hadn't felt this bad since the month he had spent waiting in the ground, before he had met Fran.

The exhaustion only felt worse when he used his [Body Split] the following day in order to once again go and visit the Blacksmith's Guild. He needed to replenish his stock of Mithirl, silver, copper, Magic Stones, and basic spell components he would be needing. Hopefully the local market still had a few stashed away somewhere.

With the introduction of the [Concurrent Consciousness] ability, Archer had been able to press his [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] skill even further than before, supporting eleven extra bodies at once. But that also meant a longer cooldown. They would need to wait five days before Archer would be able to use the skill again, and he didn't feel like wasting the time.

He had two main objectives on his agenda. The first was to get the materials needed to create a scabbard in order to hide Lumiose's true nature. Unlike other weapons which could be charged with his own Mana, Lumiose could only gather Mana from moonlight and the slow passage of time, meaning that he couldn't just store it away inside of the Dimensional Storage. But Archer hadn't felt like wasting the room on the blade to add an Appraisal Blocker, so he would need to add it to the scabbard.

Since Fran was so insistent on using Archer first and foremost, Art would be the one to carry the second sword, once the scabbard was complete. Hopefully this wouldn't cause problems, as while Art could make good use out of the blade's basic Skills, its Special Skill held a restriction on it, put in place by the Moonlight Goddess, making it so that only Archer's wielder could make use of the special attack, a fifty foot long blade made of the Mana gathered from the moon's light.

Archer wondered if the Goddess in question was laughing or crying about Fran's stubbornness.

The second thing that Archer wanted to do was create a convenient and comfortable method for long distance transportation, as while surfing on top of Archer was fun for a while, it wasn't something that was practical for multiple day long trips, especially with both Fran and Art on him.

To this end, Archer had saved one of the two Kipine Magic Stones in order to be used as a material.

While the weapon wielding Kipines hadn't had the most interesting basic Skill, having only the sword and shield skills they needed in order to perform their job, they did have the Innate Skill, [Flight], and were strong enough to have a high likelihood of transferring said skill when used. Archer's plan, to create a sort of flying motorcycle for the two to ride on.

He was giving up around 300 Magic Stone Points in order to do so, but at this point, that was barely a quarter of a rank, and could easily be replaced when they found a market with a greater supply of Magic Stones.

Hunting themselves was becoming more and more inefficient as a method for Ranking Up. Unless they found a place with an incredibly high density of Demonic Beasts, such as a Dungeon, purchasing Magic Stones seemed to be the way to go, meanwhile, hunting should be focused solely on helping Fran and Art to level up.

For Archer, a giant mass of weak Magic Stones would do, but the girls would require powerful enemies if they were to continue to grow. So the sooner they could get to the Crystal Cage Forest, the better.

"Goodmorning Merlin. More of the same?" The salesgirl of an expensive wine store asked, already pulling out the crate of wine.

"Afraid so." Archer said, scratching his head as he pulled out a purse to pay for the strong drinks.

"You sure do go through a lot of this stuff, though you don't look like a guy with a drinking problem."

"That's because I don't drink it myself. I use it at the Blacksmith's Guild. Those dwarves won't give you the time of day if you don't have a strong enough drink to offer them." Archer said as he finished his purchase. Dwarves were a good source of information, as they didn't have a filter for their mouths. They would answer any question you asked, once they had a drink in their hands.

It was only his willingness to buy them drinks that stopped the dwarves of the Blacksmith's Guild from hating Archer's guts. Some of them ended up suspecting him of being a spy, but none of them really cared enough to do anything about it anyways.

Leaving with the liquor tucked away in his [Dimensional Storage], Archer headed for the Guild hall. It was already getting late into the afternoon, so it was likely that there would be people there willing to tell him anything he wanted to know.

But as he approached the building, one of the smiths came out to stop him. "Merlin, you need to go. You can't be here right now." Gumm said, holding up his hands as if to shoo Archer away. The dwarf's eyes were shifting about as he glanced over his shoulder.

"What's the matter?" Archer said, immediately shifting on guard himself, his hands going to Kuroko and Shiroko, which were dangling from his hips.

"What's the matter!? The matter is that trouble has come looking for you! You should go home! Better yet, you should skip town!" The man hissed, as if afraid to be overheard.

However, his warning's fell on deaf ears as Archer heard something breaking inside, accompanied by a shout from Caroline. "Let go of me!"

Archer side stepped Gumm before the dwarf could stop him and entered the Guild to find a group of five men and women at the front desk, with one of them, a man in very shiny knight's armor that just screamed 'shoot me', was grabbing on to Caroline's wrist as she tried to shake him off, to no avail.

Tension was high in the room as every dwarf in there glared daggers and the intruders, most of them shaking with indignant rage, but not a single one was brave enough or strong enough to stand up to them.

"Come on Miss, all I want to know is where I can find the blacksmith who made these weapons. I don't want to be rough with a girl like you." The man said with a princely smile, seemingly unaware of the girl's struggles to get away from him.

The moment that Archer saw the man and the weapons that hung about him, he immediately knew who he was, even without the use of [Appraisal], and had to fight down the urge to kill the man that very instant. He half projected a sword to fight through the man's head before stopping himself, less out of a concern for the man's life, then out of worry about the consequences his death would have for others.

It would have been hard to have not heard of him when asking among the dwarves as there wasn't a single Blacksmith who didn't spit on his name. A disgusting noble bastard who used his 'Lady Killer' title in order to sleep his way into an undeserved A-rank Adventurer title. A man who traveled the country, basically mugging Blacksmiths and other Adventurers in order to steal their magic swords. A man who had used his father's Marquis rank in order to get away with extortion, assault, robbery, and even rape.

Celldio Lesspus.

* * *

Name: Celldio Lesspus.

Age: 30

Species: Human

Job: Magic Sword Knight

Status: Normal

Level: 40/99

HP: 409 MP: 398 STR: 207 VIT: 199

AGI: 167 INT: 201 MGC: 190 DEX: 167

Skills: Intimidation: Lv3, Chant Shortening: Lv3, Riding: Lv7, Fear Resistance: Lv4, Sword Techniques: Lv7, Sword Arts: LvMax, Divine Sword Arts: Lv2, Extortion: Lv6, Command: Lv4, Purification Magic: Lv2, Mental Harm Resistance: Lv5, Elemental Blade: Lv6, Magic Detection: Lv3, Connoisseur: Lv8, Charm: Lv4, Vigour Manipulation, Curse Nullification

Unique Skills: Weapon Control

Titles: Orc Killer, Lady Killer, Viscount, Extortionist, Elixir Addict, A Ranked Adventurer

Equipment: Pegasus Sword, Basilisk Sword, Holy Silver Armour of Light, Hexagonal Deer King's Mantle, Dimensional Ring, Pendant of Life

* * *

He was trying to use a charm based skill on her, but Caroline had near immunity to such skills.

"I already told you that I don't know where Merlin is. No one here knows because it isn't our job to know. He comes around when he wants to do business and leaves once he's done, just like everyone else. Now let go!" Caroline growled.

"You don't even know the address in which the man works? That seems rather suspicious to me." One of Celldio's men, a rogue of some kind, said. "And she is harboring such a shady character."

"Huh, he does sound shady, doesn't he?" Celldio said with a frown. "You know, you shouldn't involve yourself with people like that. It could get you into trouble."

"And you should learn the meaning of no, you brain damaged asshole!" Caroline shouted at the man. Eyes narrowed as she had just insulted a Viscount, though the noble himself just started to shake his head.

"If you are going to insist on helping such a bad person, I'm going to have to punish you." Celldio said sadly, a whip appearing out of his Dimensional Ring. "But remember, I'm only going to punish you out of love."

Archer couldn't help it. The moment he saw the whip and read its history, seeing all the women this sick fuck had used it on, and understood what he meant to do to Caroline… Killing intent came boiled up out of him.

The drama in front of him ended in an instant as the five 'Adventurers' stopped what they were doing to whirl around to face the overwhelming killing intent. Caroline stumbled back as her hand was released. She looked over at him, her eyes widening in shock. "Merlin, when did you...?"

"Did your mothers never teach you that isn't how you are supposed to treat a lady?" Archer said as casually walked forward, letting the killing intent die down. "If you wanted to see me, you should have just left a message, or picked a table, instead of trying to shake down the receptionist."

"So then, you are the elusive Merlin." A second swordsmen in the party said, seeming on guard from having sensed Archer's killing intent. Archer barely spared the man a glance. While he appeared to be titled a Rank-B Adventurer, the man's stats were only at the C-rank. Same went for all of them.

The only exception being Celldio himself, who's stats barely managed to inch their way into what Archer would call the B-rank range. Strangely though, his stats were all pretty evenly distributed, the same way as if one had leveled up without doing any focused training. Perhaps the result of performance enhancing drugs. It would certainly explain the 'Elixir Addict' title.

Even so, he was a good deal weaker and less skilled than Fran and Art. Archer was fairly sure that if the girls ever got into a fight with him and his party, the two would completely annihilate them.

"I leave for three days to work on a pet project and suddenly people are calling me 'elusive'. I even left a note. How long of a vacation should I take if I want you all to just assume I was dead?" Archer chuckled. "Yes. I am Merlin. Now, if you have business with me, speak up. Otherwise, you should get out of everyone's hair. Despite appearances, we are all actually quite busy and don't have time to waste on the likes of you."

"How dare you take up such a tone in the presence of our Lord, you damned peasant!" The knight snapped, though Celldio didn't see to hear any of it. He was just staring at Archer, or rather the blades at Archer's waste.

Seeming to come out of some kind of trance, the man grinned wide and just walked straight up to Archer with his guard down. Archer's hand twitched as he fought against the knee jerk response to lob off the man's stupid head. Something about his slick blond hair and shiny armor simply pissed Archer off, and the fact that the man was a bonafide rapist and ran around claiming that all magic swords rightfully belonged to him, didn't help manners.

He was like Gilgamesh, only with somehow even less self awareness.

"You are the Blacksmith they call Merlin, are you not?" Celldio asked.

"I already said that I am. Are you hard of hearing as well as being generally brain damaged?" Archer deadpanned, causing some of the dwarves to wolf whistle and laugh, though many just looked on in stunned silence, surprised at the lip Archer was willing to show an A-rank Adventurer and Noblemen.

"Huh? There's no need to be so rude."

"You just assaulted a woman. Apologize to her, and I might consider changing my tone." Archer said.

"Assault? What are you talking about? I haven't assaulted anyone." Celldio said, seeming surprised, as if he didn't remember his actions for just a minute before.

"How dare you put up such false..." The swordsman started, but no one heard him continue.

"[Silence]." Archer said, quickly putting down an area of silence over the knight, shutting him up. "How dare I, how dare I, how dare I. I don't have the patience to put up with idiots and broken records today. Just tell me what you're here for and be gone."

"Right." Celldio said, before holding out his hand. "Give me your magic swords."

"...No."

"What? Why not?"

"Because, while I might not be as uptight about who I sell to as Gallus is, I am morally opposed to giving weapons to the mentally impaired." Archer said with a shake of the head.

"Don't you know who I am?" Celldio said, seemingly frustrated, more than offended. "I'm Celldio Lesspus, an A-rank Adventurer."

"And that matters why?"

"Look, you know just how amazing those swords are, right? So, giving it to a hero like me is basically the same thing as doing the whole world a favour."

"You, a Hero? Don't make me laugh. I would call you a delusional dreamer, but that would be an insult to everyone who had ever dreamed of being a Hero." Archer's mouth twitched, and his eyes had no humor in them. "But I suppose I can't just turn you away empty handed after you've come to see me. So I will give you a weapon worthy of a man like you."

Celldio perked up, seeming to believe that Archer was going to give him Kuroko and Shiroko, or something of that level.

Fat chance.

Reaching into his [Dimensional Storage] Archer retrieved a plan steel spoon from within, before tapping into the Mana Pools inside of Kuroko and Shiroko in order to cast [Smithing Magic] and [Alteration] in order to enchant the spoon.

* * *

Name: Magical Spoon of Return

ATK: 10 Mana: 1/1

Skills: Return, Auto-Equip

* * *

"Here you go." Archer said, forcing it into the man's hand. "Now, try not to hurt yourself with it."

It took a moment for everyone to realize what Archer had just given the man, and when they did, the dwarves burst out laughing.

"Do you think this is a joke?" Celldio said, finally seeming a little bit upset as he tossed the spoon to the side.

"You wanted a magic item, so I gave you a magic spoon." Archer said with a chuckle. "Also, I wouldn't have thrown it like that if I were you."

"Huh?" Celldio said, moments before the spoon came rocketing back to smack him in the temple, dazing the stalwart Adventurer, who stumbled to the side.

The force exerted by the 'return' effect was proportional to the MGC of the person it was equipped to, and with Celldio descent MGC and the low mass of the spoon, it was a fairly high speed projectile, and with the 'return' made to return to the thrower's head rather than their hands, Celldio ended up taking quite the hit to the head before he even knew what was happening.

Even with its low ATK, the spoon still left a welt on the side of the man's head as the defensive enchantments of his armor didn't recognize the spoon as an attack, as it was using Celldio's own magic signature.

However, it wasn't over yet, as Celldio was still not holding the spoon and didn't have the presence of mind to just unequip it.

He turned his head just in time to see the spoon coming straight for him, and rather than shielding his face, the idiot widened his eyes.

"Ahh!" Celldio screamed bloody murder as the spoon lodged itself in the man's eye.

Archer smiled as the man dropped to the ground in pain, his teammates momentarily shocked before they rushed forward in order to help him. The knight was the one to remove the dreaded spoon from his companions eye as their hunter fumbled with a top tier health potion.

Archer had to admit he was impressed by the potency of the potion as the man's eye began to mend itself.

"How dare you attack the lord like that!" The knight shouted, as Archer had stopped paying attention to the silencing spell. "I will see you hang for this!"

"Oh yes, please go and inform the City Knights that the big bad blacksmith beat up on your poor little A-rank Adventurer with a spoon." Archer chuckled. "I'm hoping that every bard in the country starts singing heroic tales about the great Celldio's battle against the Evil Spoon."

The knight was starting to turn a shade of purple as he drew his sword and started to approach Archer.

Normally, Archer would have reacted to this immediately, but there was no need. After all, he had discarded the spoon.

*Bong!*

The man stumbled about in shock as the spoon jumped from the ground and slammed against his helmet. While not moving as fast as before, since the knight had lower MGC, it was still fast enough to rattle the man's helmet with each hit.

"Ah!" The man shouted as he started trying to swot the spoon out of the air with his sword, calling on his companions for help.

Archer took this moment to walk past the group of 'Adventurers' as they struggled to deal with a single spoon and walked towards the front desk.

"You alright?" Archer asked a dazed Caroline.

The receptionist stared at him with an open mouth before sighing. "You just love to cause headaches, don't you."

"I can't really deny that." Archer admitted with a shrug. He could sense the mage of the party trying to cast a fire spell, targeting his back. He projected two dozen more copies of the 'Magical Spoon of Return' and fired them, without turning to look, causing her to yelp in surprise and stopping her cast. As they made contact with her, the rogue and the hunter's bodies, they auto-equipped, locking onto their targets. Now all of Celldio's companions had spoons attacking them, while the A-ranker himself was trying to protect his mage from attacks as she tried to cast magic to fix things. "I've got a few things I'd like to order. Mind if I leave the list here and come to pick them up tomorrow?"

"Sure. Fine. Whatever, just don't be surprised when the entire city guard shows up to arrest you." Caroline said with a sigh.

"Doubt it. Even if the guy is an A-rank Adventurer and a Viscount, I'm a Magic Blacksmith Second Class. So long as I don't kill them, I don't think the local Lord would try to arrest me. Too many eye witnesses to testify as to what happened, isn't that right!?" Archer asked the room, receiving cheers from the dwarves as they laughed and threw normal spoons at the startled and confused Adventurers.

"Actually, you've been promoted again. You're now a Magic Blacksmith First Class. Congratulations." Caroline reported.

"Really? I figured I'd have to wait until after I showed the Guild Master this before that happened." Archer said, before withdrawing Lumiose from him [Dimensional Storage].

All the dwarves went silent as their eyes went from the Adventurers to the sword. "Godblade." The whisper passed through the room, with so many of them saying it that it could be heard over the noise of the Adventurers were making, and for once, Archer didn't correct them. Not yet, anyways.

Caroline seemed slightly less shocked by the blade. Probably because her skill had already informed her that Archer had reached the max level of [Magic Blacksmithing].

"A Godblade." Celldio said, his entire attention moving to the long sword, leaving the mage to fend for herself, which she did by falling to the ground and covering her head with her hands. "Give it to me!"

The A-rank Adventurer rushed Archer, but his movements were too obvious and the Servant managed to brush off his hands with minimal force, resulting in him crashing into the front desk. Archer had been expecting this reaction, banking on it even, but he hadn't expected the amount of desperation in the man's voice.

"You can't even handle a magic spoon and you think you got what it takes to wield Lumiose?" Archer said, teasing the man by waving the sword back and forth, watching his eyes following it.

"I am the Hero. The Godblade should be mine." The man said, his eyes unfocused.

"Is that so." Archer said before making a show of snapping his fingers, causing the traced spoons to disappear and the last one to glow red as broken with [Lava Magic]. "If you think you are worthy, then prove it."

The Adventurers looked over at him, surprised as the assult ended. "I, Merlin the Blacksmith, challenge you and your party to an official duel. Win, and Lumiose is yours. Lose, and I will take one piece of your equipment."

"Merlin!" Caroline shouted in shock as the dwarves erupted in protest.

But Archer was only looking at Celldio. The foolish pretend A-ranker grinned. "Of course! I accept your challenge! Let it be an official duel to prove that I am the chosen one!"

Archer could only smirk as the fool walked to his long overdo judgment.

* * *

**I know it is confusing, but Magic Stones and Mana Crystals are not the same thing. **

**Magic Stones are the crystals inside of Demonic Beasts.**

**Mana Crystals are crystallized deposits of mana within the earth.**

**Archer absorbs Magic Stones, not Mana Crystals.**

* * *

**(Fate/Stay Night X Seven Deadly Sins): **The Sword's Sin of Falsehood: Merlin was intrigued when she stumbled upon a man whose very existence was lies. His body was lies. His power was lies. His dreams were lies. He was a broken warrior, who claimed to not give a damn about the fate of the world. Angels, Demons, Humans, all of their lives were worthless in the grand scheme of things, and he couldn't be bothered to save any of them. ...Natural, that was a lie as well.


	36. Chapter 36

Fran was having a good day.

It started off on the right foot when she woke up to find that the limbless slavers they had locked in the closet and forgotten about had died and turned into zombies without the use of any [Necromancy Magic], meaning that they developed their own Magic Stones. She wasn't entirely sure as to the process, but hey, free Magic Stones.

After that was a large breakfast, with fresh bacon made from one of the Kipines they killed in the dungeon, which had one of the most interesting tastes. It was kind of like chicken, but also kind of porky as well, and has just the right amount of crispy fat clinging to it to enrich the flavor without messing up the texture.

Then they got to the Adventurer's Guild to find three material gathering missions on the board that they just so happened to have already completed, as well as a scouting mission that gave them a good excuse to fly a lap around a nearby clearing, letting them coast over the landscape on top of Archer as they casually snacked on rice balls.

The mission resulted in them running into a group of bandits who were kind of strong, or at least above average, with one of them having a Unique Skill called 'Locate Valuables'. Fran stored their bodies away, planning on seeing if she could turn them into undead as well, in order to steal their skills.

They had lunch right after the battle was over, a large number of sandwiches that Archer had prepared for them, before 'convincing' one of the surviving bandits to lead them back to their hideout. Lots of goodies there, and more bandits to fight. Fran and Art picked out an unmarked crate of spices and a box of jewels that they thought no one would miss to keep as their prize, but left the rest for the City Knights. A secret apology to their Commander, who seemed to be a friend of Amanda's, for having turned their headquarters into a swamp earlier in the week.

After reporting back in, Fran and Art met with Amanda and she taught them a game. It was like volleyball, only using [Wind Magic] instead of your hands and with a bolder instead of a small leather ball. It was great practice and great fun, though it ate away at their Mana receives quickly. It was supposed to teach the girls how to use [Wind Magic] to effectively immobilize large targets, something that [Wind Magic] did best. The game resulted in Fran's personal [Wind Magic] ranking up to level 6, quickly followed by her [Lightning Magic].

Then came their second lunch, ramen with Kipine meat and broth made from a dragon's bones, as much as they could eat.

Yep, Fran was having a very good day.

"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Art asked as she leaned back in her seat, patting her stomach and giving a loud belch.

"Nn… don't know." Fran admitted. They had already done the only mission for the day that looked interesting and ate all she felt her stomach could comfortably accept. She didn't really feel like going shopping, since it wouldn't be the same without Amanda, who had to go in order to help manage the orphanage.

The orphanage wasn't exactly one of Fran's favorite places.

It wasn't that it was a bad place or anything. It was just that the people who helped Amanda run it kept staring at her, which made Fran feel uncomfortable. She was also coming to understand that she couldn't exactly play with the other children very well. Her strength and reflexes made her different than them. Her raw stats were nearly a hundred times what theirs were. If she wasn't careful, she could accidently hurt them just by shaking their hands.

Six hundred pounds of pressure was apparently a lot. Enough to crush a level 1 human's skull. She even had to be careful when dealing with full grown adults who were less than level 10. Archer had to make her and Art extra strength silverware so that they wouldn't break it.

Amanda admitted to having the same problem. Something that the older Adventurer enjoyed about being around Fran and Art was that they were children that she didn't have to worry about snapping in two while giving them a hug.

If Fran wanted to play with other children her age, she would need to learn how to rein in her strength, something that was harder than it sounded. An unfortunate consequence of her rapid growth, as most people would have taken 20 years to reach the level she was after just three and a half weeks with Archer.

That said, she didn't want to slow down.

"More training?" Fran suggested.

"Yeah, I guess there really isn't anything else to do, but what kind of training do you want to do?" Art asked.

Fran considered the question, as there were so many different kinds of training, each with their own benefits. Since they just had a large meal, they should probably start with a few energy flow exercises, or some reflex training. Something that would act as a good warm up. Or maybe they could practice using [Structural Analysis]. It was kind of hard, as there wasn't a Skill that supported it, but it was usually good fun.

But before she could respond, the two of them were interrupted. "Milady, could I have a word?"

"Nn?" Fran said, tilting her head as she looked over at the blond haired man. Fran was pretty sure that he was that swordsman guy from the dungeon dive question. His name was… Steve? Maybe? Being a lower tier C-rank Adventurer, he hadn't really left a strong impression on her. He had been fast enough, but his attack patterns, footwork and control were all lacking and he didn't have any magic, either offensive or defensive, to increase his kit. But he had actually tried to train with them and had lasted an entire hour, until Fran and Art's turn at watch ended and they stopped training in order to get a full night's sleep. After all, exhaustion was the enemy. "Need something?"

The man kneed down in front of her, taking his sword, still sheathed, from his belt and presenting it to her. "Please Milady, take me as your disciple."

"...Disciple?" Fran repeated, not sure she had heard him right.

She wasn't the only one confused. Most of the people in the Adventurer's Guild who could hear him looked at the man as if he had suddenly grown a second head.

"As the son of a noble family, it has always been my duty in life to become strong enough to protect my country and its people, but no matter how hard I trained, I am still no match for you. It isn't just your strength, your skill with a sword is leagues above mine." Steve said, keeping his head low.

{Obviously.} Art said, rolling her eyes. {His style is an absolute mess. He banks way too much on his speed.}

It was true. The greatest shortcoming of Steve's fighting style was that he focused too much on speed. As a Flash Swordsman, AGL was the man's highest stat by a large margin. And his exercises probably centered around quick draw routines. It was the old strategy of 'he who attacks first wins'.

Problem was that he used a long sword rather than a weapon meant for those speeds. So if he swings his sword at high speeds, it becomes difficult to make course and stance corrections. Whenever he swung his sword, his body was locked into the movement because he lacked the STR to stop his swing. This fatal flaw in his technique was likely why he was stuck at [Sword Art] Lv7, and couldn't even use that to its maximum effectiveness. It caused him to leave openings and made him easy to 'play like a fiddle'.

It was a method of fighting that would work perfectly well against any low skill fighter, but against anyone with a lot of combat experience, or who could afford to tank the hit, it would be worse than useless, it would simply get you killed.

"And it isn't just your combat prouse. When you were transported without your weapon along with the members of the Dragon's Roar party, you protected them, at great personal risk."

"Not big deal. Little risk." Fran said.

"You even surpass me in humility. In all aspects of Chivalry, I can not help but feel inspired by you." The man said. "Please, take me on as your disciple."

{Maybe some new missions have shown up since this morning. Would probably be worth the check.} Art said, trying to change the subject away from the graveling C-rank Adventurer. But Fran didn't respond. {...Wait, you aren't seriously considering this, are you? We can't have this guy following us around.}

{I know… but interesting.} Fran admitted. She'd never been a teacher before, and wondered if it might not be fun.

{Fran, you don't even know this guy's name.}

{...Isn't it Steve?}

{...Wasn't Steve the guy with the spear?}

{...Maybe?} Fran honestly couldn't remember. She hadn't really been paying attention when they had been introducing themselves. Fran only really remembered the summaries that Archer gave her about their stats and skills. This man had [Malice Detection] at a high level, which suggested that he had a lot of people who wanted to hurt him for some reason.

It felt kind of wrong to leave him as weak as he was when so many people wanted to hurt him. But at the same time, they were planning on leaving in just a few days. Not enough time for her to be taking on an apprentice.

{What do you think, Archer?} Fran tried to ask her sword, only to get no response. {Archer?} It was unusual for him not to be paying attention to them. Fran wondered if something interesting had happened.

No sooner did she wonder this than the answer came as the door to the Guild Hall burst open and a dwarf came stumbling, collapsing to the ground. "Please… help. Someone help!" The dwarf shouted, holding his side as he panted for breath.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Nell asked the dwarf as every single Adventurer in the guild stood up and reached for their weapons at the call to arms.

"It's Celldio… he's… he's targeting Merlin." The dwarf begged.

A collective swearing came from the surrounding Adventurers as they plopped back down in their seats, looks of disgust on their faces.

{Celldio?} Fran said. She wasn't particularly worried. Even if his false body was killed, it wouldn't affect Archer in the slightest. Not that it was likely that anyone could kill Archer.

{Don't ask me.} Art replied. {I'm still trying to wrap my mind around someone being dumb enough to target mom. They must have a death wish or something.}

Fran looked to Steve for answers. "Celldio: who is he?"

"Celldio is an A-rank Adventurer and Viscount with the worst of reputations. He is a black mark on both the Guild and the Country. A man with no sense of chivalry at all." Steve said, with the same unhappy look as everyone else. "A few years ago, he was caught up in a scandal as he commented several dozen crimes that were each worthy of the death penalty, however, he was allowed to get away with them because of his father's influence as a Marquis as well as the assistance of several Guild Masters who were his backers. Well, I say he got away with it. No court ever punished him for the crimes he committed, but his father performed a sort of justice of his own. The story goes that in order to stop Celldio from bringing further shame to the family name, the Marquis drugged his son into a state of permanent brain damage, so that he would be easier to keep in check. While he is arguable better than who he once was, he is completely insane and is fueled by a desire to own all the most powerful weapons he can find. I would suggest that milady stay far away from him, lest he try to take your magic weapon as well."

"..." Fran's tail went rigid at the suggestion that someone might try to take Archer away from her. If they wanted Archer, the only way they were getting him was with his blade pushed through their throats.

Still, Archer having to fight someone on Amanda's level while his own strength was reduced by the limitations of the [Body Split] and [Transformation] skills, was more than a little worrying.

Even with Kuroko and Shiroko's stat boosts, Archer's stats would only be around 40~50 a piece, only 20% of the amount he had when fighting Amanda to a standstill. If it was someone of similar strength to the Mother of Demon Children, who could us Skills to boost her STR up to around 500 and her SPD well into the thousands, Archer would be fighting against an individual who functionally had over ten times his strength and speed. Amanda had also told them that Orichalcum based weaponry and armor, like the kind she and Art had, weren't actually uncommon among A-rankers.

Archer was good, no, incredible, but between high stats, the best quality weapons and high level skills, could he beat an A-rank opponent when he only had around 2% of his true strength?

Fran got up from her seat and started to move. "Huh, where are you going?" Steve asked, completely puzzled.

"Going to help." Fran answered simply as Art made to follow her.

Steve… Cruz was momentarily shocked as the girls left, before he started to shake. "Milady truly is the embodiment of the Adventuring Ideals!" He half shouted to himself, before following out after her.

* * *

"Are you sure you wish to do this?" Baron Urs Bendoro, the Commander of the City Knights, asked Archer as he looked over the official Dueling contract.

In accordance with the law, it had already been signed by both parties involved in the duel, as well as the local Lord and High Priest. Now it was only the Commander of the City Knights who had to recognize the duel before it would be permitted to get underway.

Archer couldn't exactly blame him, most people would have to be insane to not only challenge an A-rank Adventurer to a duel, but challenge his entire party at once. Nearly everyone had tried to talk him out of it, or offered to fight at his side.

Archer had tried to be gentle in letting such people down. There was no need for anyone other than him to get involved in this. Both the Priest and Lord had to be threatened by the 'Adventurers' in order to comply. The fools seemed to think they actually had a chance, even after the 'spoon incident', and Celldio was so desperate to obtain Lumiose that he was nearly going feral.

"I am well aware of what I am getting myself into, both the risks and long term consequences. I'm not as foolish as I seem." Archer said with a shrug. "Don't act like it is something that can't be done. From what I can tell, you could beat him yourself if you tried."

"...Maybe against Celldio alone, I might be able to hold my own. But the entire party..." Commander Bendoro said with a frown.

The Commander of the City Knights wasn't a weakling. While his skills had started to degrade in his old age, his STR and END were still higher than Celldio's, and his battle sense was still sharp. With his shield and spear style of fighting, he would probably win against Celldio's sword, even if he lacked the 'Divine' level of weapon arts.

Archer even had his doubts about the Skills that Celldio did have. While it might be the pot calling the kettle black, something about his Skill's levels didn't add up. Such as how high his [Elemental Weapon] skill was, when he didn't have any skills that would allow him to use or train it effectively.

[Elemental Weapon] was a Skill that allowed the user to infuse their elemental mana into their weapon. However, Celldio only knows [Purification Magic] and only at lv2. While [Holy Magic] infused into the blade might have a pronounced effect against the unholy, [Purification Magic] could just about make the blade look shiny and clean blood and poison off of it.

And yet the man had [Elemental Weapon] at lv7?

It was likely the result of Skill Raising Potions. A type of potion that could be used to raise one's Skills. The catch being that how many of which Skills are raised is entirely random.

The idiot must have been chugging the potions down one after another in order to raise his [Sword Arts] level, so that he could unlock [Divine Sword Arts]. Probably because having one higher tier Skill was considered to be the bare minimum requirement for being considered for being made an A-rank Adventurer. They must have spent billions to raise his Skills, and some more to raise his other stats.

But while his stats page said he had these skills, he swords' histories told Archer otherwise. Celldio was no divine level swordsman. Likely because of his serious brain damage, he didn't have the necessary reflexes to pull that off. He was [Sword Arts] lv7 at best.

His lv5 [Mental Damage Resistance] was evidence of the fact that he was subjected to brain damage on multiple occasions.

So much time, money and effort spent in order to create a simple puppet.

"Stop dallying. You are wasting our Lord's time." One of the Adventurers said, earning a glare from the old wardog.

"That's quite the mouth you've got on you for a mere house knight." The man said in a low tone. "Perhaps a few days in the slammer for disrupting public order would teach your group to respect authority. Or maybe I could make it a mouth or two."

"Wh… you wouldn't dare."

"I'm already close to retirement, and there's no guarantee you would even be alive by the time anyone started to make a stink about it. So just try me." Bendoro said with a toothy grin, blatantly threatening the man's life.

While he was technically below a Viscount in socal status, his position as Commander of a Knightly Order boosted his effective rank to that of a Count, it just wasn't an inherited status. Meaning he outranked not just the idiot knights, but also the Viscount himself.

"You threaten the son of a Maquis? Do you think his household would stand for this?"

"He's a bastard son and unlikely to inherit anything. Actually, I would probably win points with his half brothers by removing him for them." Bendoro said, seeming confident, even though what he said was a huge lie. If he did arrest them, the Marquis Family would hold it against him and his on principle.

"As nice as that sounds, I'd rather get this over with now, rather than having these fools chasing after me a month from now." Archer said, before the Adventurers could respond. He looked the knight in the eyes, showing him eyes that made the Knight Commander stop. "This is something long overdue as it is."

"...I see. Fine then. Kill each other for all I care." Bendoro said as he took out a fountain pen and signed off on the papers.

"Great, and now that the legal bullshit required to make a duel official is done, how about we go somewhere where we can get this out of the way." Archer said as he stored his copy in his dimensional storage.

"Yes. Lets." Celldio said, his eyes practically bulging out of his head as he stored his own copy in his dimensional ring.

"I can't believe you are actually doing this." Caroline said as she walked behind him, Lumiose held in her arms. Part if the conditions for the fight was that Archer would not make use of Lumiose, and that Caroline would hold onto it until the duel was over.

An obnoxious condition, but ultimately meaningless. Archer wasn't fighting against anything strong enough to warrant the blade.

Celldio's stats were around four times his own. He'd been up against steeper gaps and against vastly more skilled enemies than these clowns.

"It's fine. This won't take long." Archer said as he walked.

The Knight Commander was kind enough to allow them to do their business in the Order's training ground, a large empty space with flat ground and nothing to hide behind. It worked perfectly.

"If both parties are ready, I will signal the start of the match."

"We are ready." "I'm ready."

"Then begin!" The Knight Commander shouted, dropping his hand.

In an instant, Archer had his black bow out and an arrow on the string. He had to use [Support Magic] and [Herculean Strength] in order to boost himself to the point where he could quickly draw the bow.

The party might not have been good, but they weren't fresh faced rookies. The knight immediately moved into the way of the arrow with shield raised as it flew towards their mage.

Too bad for him the mage wasn't the target of that first arrow.

One down.

The moment the "Lightning Arrow" made contact with the man's shield, it stuck to it and gave off a powerful electric shock. His metal armor conducted the electricity well and the man's entire body was fried. Unequipped to deal with such a shock, the man seized up, unable to even drop the shield. His body went rigid and started to fall over, just in time for the second arrow to fly past.

The mage had barely started to mutter the second line to their first spell when Archer's "Cursed Arrow" penetrated her cloth armor's mystic protections and lodged itself in her stomach.

Two down.

"Anna!" The hunter screamed in panic, fitting her own arrow to the string and firing it at Archer at high velocity.

Not that it made a difference, as the moment the arrow came within ten feet of Archer, he opened up his [Dimensional Storage] and just pocketed it.

Archer third arrow went for the hunter, who immediately tried to dodge out of the way in order to avoid the attack. Archer would have been impressed at the minimalist style of her dodge as she judged the arrow's trajectory exactly. Only he had been expecting that.

The arrow blew up the moment it passed her.

Three down.

Uncaring about his companions, Celldio had immediately started to charge forward the moment battle commenced, drawing his Basilisk Sword as he did so, and was nearly upon the bowman. So Archer abandoned his bow, tossing it forward so that it would get in the way of the charging Celldio's feet.

Predictably, the man was unable to lose his forward momentum and jumped over the tossed bow in order to avoid being tripped, leaving him airborne as he came into range of Archer.

It didn't matter how much stronger than Archer Celldio was. With zero footing, his [Heavy Strike] was so simple to block that Archer did so with his eyes closed. Kuroko's minor reflecting property made it easy, as Celldio's own force worked against him. Celldio's blade was parried, leaving him completely exposed to Archer's counter attack.

Kuroko slashed his right arm, cutting it clean off, while Shiroko passed over the man's throat, though he made sure not to cut so deep as to instantly kill the man.

Four down.

Archer looked up and saw the rogue scaling over the far wall of the training grounds.

...Five down?

Well, didn't really matter. Archer turned his attention back to Celldio who was weakly clawing at his ruined throat.

"You know, I don't really care about the swords." Archer said, startling the now dying man. "You were a thief and a bastard, but I didn't really care about that. I didn't care who you robbed or extorted from. I didn't care that you were an embarrassment of a noble, or that you were unworthy of being called an A-rank Adventurer. If those were your only crimes, I probably would have just ignored you.

"However, those were not your only crimes, and I cannot and will not let someone who raped and murdered innocent women to simply get away with it." Archer growled. "Celldio Lesspus, this is your long overdue judgment."

The man hardly put up a fight as Archer drove his blade through the man's heart.

Job done, Archer stood up and cleaned his blades. Then he walked over to the mage, 'Anna'. Dismissing the arrow, he cast [Greater Heal] on the woman. "The duel is over. I'll leave your companions to you." Archer told the shocked woman.

Archer then started to walk away before remembering something. "Right, I need to claim my prize." Using [Telekinesis], he grabbed onto Celldio's severed arm. He took the sword out of it, and then tossed the blade to the side. What he was after was the man's Dimensional Ring, and the treasure trove of equipment inside of it.

There was a magic lock on it, but that wouldn't take Archer too long to crack.

"You… you actually did it." Caroline said as Archer reached her. She was as shocked as everyone else there. "You beat them. No, you dismantled them! You DISMANTLED an A-rank party!"

"They weren't an A-rank party. They were C-rank at best. Besides, I had to win. You would have killed me if I allowed someone to get another one of my sword's for free." Archer said with a cheeky smile as he retrieved Lumiose and returned it to his [Dimensional Storage]. "Now, let's get back to the Guild Hall. I still need to place my orders."

But as they exited the building, with the army of dwarves all asking Archer 'What the fuck?' a familiar pair of girls showed up.

"Heard you were going to fight A-rank. Here to help." Fran said as she and Art stopped in front of Archer.

It wasn't until then that Archer realized he had been tunnel visioning and hadn't been paying attention to what was happening around the girls. "Thanks for the thought, but it is already over."

"Huh! Already!" Art shouted, her shoulders slumping. "And we just got here too… This sucks."

"Nn..." Fran agreed. It seemed that the two of them had been looking forward to an excuse to fight against an A-rank Adventurer.

Archer couldn't help but chuckle to himself… until Cruz showed up, trying to beg for his 'sensei' to be careful.

...Archer swears that he will never let Fran go unobserved ever again.


	37. Chapter 37

[Learning that she had been tricked into giving up her beloved Hero, Brynhildr plotted to take his life. She was one of the War God's Valkyries, tasked with guiding the fallen warriors to their final resting place. As such, in death, Sigurd would be hers once more.] Archer recounted the tales of Sigurd for Fran and Art, as a bedtime story.

Telling them stories of other heroes was something he did often, partly because the girls enjoyed them, and partly to teach them the harsh lessons about the lives of those who earned the right to call themselves heroes.

They didn't know it yet, but someday, it would be them having to face scheming bastards, impossible monsters, cruel gods and jealous men and women. Archer hoped that they would have a few years time before it comes, but things were moving so quickly. He had to prepare them the best he could. These stories were the most gentle way he could come up with to do it.

His inspiration for that night's story came from what he had found inside of Celldio's ring, once he broke the defensive enchantment.

Archer had expected the ring to contain Celldio's stash of stolen Magic Weapons, which he planned on copying into his Unlimited Blade Works before identifying the original wielders and having them returned, and the ring did contain almost a hundred different 'ok'-quality Magic Swords. However, the real treasure was what Archer had not been expecting.

Being an A-rank Adventurer, Celldio had access to the Guild's forbidden records and extremely classified information kept by the Guilds. Secrets that couldn't have a price tag put on them.

It was one such record that caught Archer's attention, a list of all the Godblades that were ever confirmed to exist, but have subsequently been lost.

It appeared that Celldio had been under orders to find any Godblade he could, and to try to use his [Weapon Control] and [Curse Nullification] to force the weapons to obey his will.

Archer didn't really care about that. The man was dead, he made sure of it, so any plan that hedged on him was effectively finished. It was the list itself that interested him, and one item in particular.

* * *

The Blade of Wisdom — Cherubim

This Godblade has already been destroyed, but its remains should be collected if deemed possible. There are no confirmed details regarding its abilities. Investigating the blade through the use of the [Oracle] skill has led to the conclusion that it was a sword with an angel engraved onto it. It was likely to have been destroyed in the Kingdom of Kranzel.

* * *

The word 'Angel' jumped out at Archer, reminding him of what the Kipine had said, that the sword that Archer's soul now inhabited was powerless without the 'Angel's' soul. It had also said that the 'blasphemous sword had been reforged'.

A Godblade, once destroyed and then reforged. It wasn't just possible, it seemed likely, given the information Archer had to work with.

Archer had wondered about his own inability to trace his own sword body, and had guessed that it was his soul getting in the way and muddling up the trace, but that didn't explain why he couldn't even identify the material the sword was made of.

It made sense if that material itself was a Divine existence that exceeded what he could comprehend. Such as materials gotten from the God Eating Wolf, Fenrir.

After Fran and Art had fallen asleep and Archer had made sure they were tucked in, he decided it was time to get answers.

[Rani, how's your recovery been coming?] Archer asked.

{This system has regained most of its earlier functionality, though more Magic Stone Points will be needed to restore its full strength.} Rani informed him.

[Are you feeling up to answering a few questions?] After the exertion in the dungeon, Rani had to spend some time recovering her strength, and Archer had left her to it. He was curious, but his curiosity could wait until she was healthy. Losing Rani due to pushing her too hard would be a tremendous loss.

{This system will provide any information that it has access to.}

[Okay then, can you tell me about the form you took while we were in the Inbetween World?] Archer asked, he figured that he already knew the answer, but wanted confirmation anyways.

{This system could not access any form of its own, so it borrowed one from unit name 'Nameless''s memories. That form was the one held most firmly in your mind, and was easiest to access.}

[I see, so you weren't Hakuno after all.] Archer said. He was disappointed. He had held a flicker of hope that his old Master had made it to this world with him, but it seems that it was a false hope.

{This system cannot access its identity in order to answer your question. However, it is unlikely. Is "Hakuno" someone important?}

[...Hakuno was the name of my previous Master, from before I came to this world. If forced to describe her, I guess I would call her a miracle. She was an AI, a construct created without any real intelligence or soul that somehow spontaneously created a soul of its own. Something that should have been impossible, as the materialization of a soul is a form of True Magic.] Archer said, a little longingly. [Hakuno was something special.]

{...Forgive me. I didn't know that it had such a meaning to you.} Rani said sadly, saying 'I' rather than 'this system'. The way she did whenever she seemed to feel genuine emotions.

[It's fine. I don't really mind. It just took me by surprise. You can use the form if that is what is easiest for you.] Archer said, trying to be casual about it. It had been nice, to see Hakuno's face again, even if it hadn't really been her. [Tell me does the name 'Cherubim' mean anything to you?]

{...Attempting to access records… Access failed. Records damaged. Attempting to restore records… Failed.}

[So, you can't access the information?] Archer said, pondering over what exactly that could mean.

It wasn't that unexpected. It seemed that no one knew anything about the Godblades, even though each one of them left its mark on history, there was never so much as a mention of their names anywhere. It was way Archer had been so intrigued by getting a list of confirmed Godblades, as no records of the individual Godblades could be found anywhere, save for the ones widely known to the public as being held by S-rank Adventurers or Countries.

Some kind of higher power was suppressing the information, probably because letting mortals fight over world shakingly powerful weapons was a recipe for disaster. With that taken into account, the fact that the list could possibly exist at all was something surprising.

It seemed that whatever method was being used to suppress the information, it could be circumvented by the [Oracle] skill's ability to look into the past and see the events exactly as they played out. Something that Archer should keep in mind.

Perhaps an individual with the [Oracle] skill could look into the past and see the condition for Black Catkin evolution in it. It wasn't impossible.

That said, Rani's inability to respond didn't prove anything.

[Let's try a different question then. Are you the true intelligence of this 'intelligent weapon'?]

{...This system is one piece of this Intelligent Weapon.}

[One piece? Could you explain that a little better.]

{This Intelligent Weapon currently houses three souls. This system functions as a storage unit for the Skills, as well as a means to access the information contained within the Leylines. Meanwhile, unit name *******, grants the blade access to the [Self-Evolution] ability, and permits the consumption of Magic Stones.} Rani explained. Archer was confused as she did say a name for the other system, but he had been unable to hear her. Another bit of information suppression?

Either way, it appeared that there was a third intelligence within the blade that Archer hadn't even been in contact with yet. Wonderful. Hey, if you are going to have a split personality anyways, then just bring them all on. The more the merrier.

[The identity involved in absorbing the stones. What are they like?] Archer asked.

{...I would rather not talk about that good for nothing, lazy, perverted, old dog!} Rani huffed, breaking out of her usual character in a bout of extreme frustration.

[...]

{...This system apologizes. Though as that unit's consciousness is connected to the Moonlight Goddess, it is unlikely that he will wake outside of the full moon… It would be for the best if we did not allow him to speak to wielder Fran. He would undoubtedly be a bad influence.}

[A worse influence than I am?]

{...Attempting to calculate answer to query... Attempt failed.}

Archer couldn't help but laugh at the unsure response, before returning to a more serious subject. [So, you are supposed to store the skills and he is supposed to absorb the stones. What is my purpose? Why am I here?]

{This system cannot say for sure. However, it would appear that unit name 'Nameless' was meant to 'jumpstart' the Intelligent Weapon's growth, as neither this system nor unit name ******* were yet capable of independent action.}

[So, I was just a means to jumpstart the system when the sword lacked a will to move it or a wielder to swing it.] Archer said, seeing the sense in that. [If that is the case, I guess my purpose is coming to an end. You are already capable of some independent action yourself, and Fran can feed the blade Magic Stones even without me.]

{...This system does not follow.}

[It's nothing.] Archer said. Though he still wondered how long he would be permitted to stay. Even if the Goddess of Chaos wanted to use him like a second battery to jumpstart the sword's growth, that job was almost complete, and people like him weren't usually allowed to stick around after their jobs were finished.

He would be disappointed if his soul was discarded, but not entirely surprised. He would like to stay with Fran, to shelter her and help her grow into the Hero he believed she would one day become, but if that wasn't in the cards, at least he would know that Art and Rani would be looking out for her.

He would just have to spend his time preparing the girls as best he can.

* * *

"So to summarize, a wandering, no named Blacksmith appeared out of nowhere, throw our markets into chaos, grew sixteen levels of [Blacksmith] in just two and a half weeks, created a magic sword that could be mistaken for a Godblade, and then dueled an A-rank party by himself in fifteen seconds, before executing Celldio." Count Doroto recounted to those gathered at the city council meeting. "Did I miss anything?"

"He was recommended by Gallus, who claims to have only met him the day before." The Blacksmith's Guild Master commented. "Apparently he showed the old Master Blacksmith some kind of revolutionary new way to make leather armor and won him over immediately."

"He has knowledge about grafting spells into Magic Stones, something we have been trying to research for over fifty years, with little success." The Guild Master of the local Alchemist's Guild branch said. "It is knowledge that the Alchemist Guild wishes to buy from him, but he isn't interested in selling it."

"He's on extremely friendly terms with Amanda and has absolutely no concept of the value of money." Caroline commented. "He returned all the swords that Celldio had gathered through extortion, along with a list of everyone they came from and commissioned the Blacksmith's Guild to try to return them. But the list was made by him, so he has a means of figuring out where each and every sword came from."

"He seduced my daughter…" The Merchant's Guild's Master grumbled.

Klimt sat back and listened as everyone talked about this 'Merlin' person. All thoughts of the new Dungeon, the reveal of foreign spies in the City Knights and Guard, the mysterious destruction of the local Blackmarket, and even the sudden changes in the old Dungeon had been forgotten in the wake of history's sixth known Divine Blacksmith and his public execution of the A-rank Adventurer, Celldio.

Well, this was all extremely fortunate for Klimt, as it meant he didn't have to deflect questions regarding Fran's unusual existence. However, it appeared that Merlin appeared just the day after Fran herself. Was that a coincidence?

Seemed unlikely, given how unusual both were and how both of them were connected to Amanda. It also seemed that Merlin's weapon of choice at the start of the battle was a bow.

In all likelihood, this was the Counter Guardian Spirit, Archer, taking on human form. Celldio never stood a chance. Not that Klimt would shed a tear about his passing. He had wanted the man dead for years, and only the man's father's influence stopped the Guild Master from killing the 'A-rank Adventurer' and his thuggish party himself.

"How is the Marquis Lesspus taking the news of his son's death?" Klimt asked.

"He is sending his deepest heartfelt apologies to the newest Divine Blacksmith for his son's unacceptable behavior, swearing up and down that he had no idea what the man was up to." Count Doroto said with a sigh. "He's attempting to kiss ass. It's not surprising. The King himself is doing something similar."

"Makes sense. For any country, having a Divine Blacksmith in your corner is as good as having an S-rank Adventurer. Perhaps even better, since the equipment they make can span the generations. Most rulers would be willing to bend the knee and beg for his assistance." The Blacksmith Guild Master said with a shake of the head. "Problem is that Merlin is such a confusing bastard to deal with. He doesn't care about money, status, or even women, but he ain't got the soul of an artist either. He's too down to earth and practical to be an artist. To him, a sword is nothing more than a weapon."

"If he doesn't care about material possessions, artistry or status, then what does motivate him?" Count Doroto asked.

"No idea. If I did know, I would have made use of it by now." The Blacksmith Guild Master said with a shrug. "I have a feeling that he has some kind of goal in mind. He isn't the kind of guy to do things for no reason at all. I just don't know what his reason is. He keeps gathering more and more materials in order to create more and more powerful weapons, but I don't know what they are for."

"Well, you will need to find something. His Majesty has already sent us orders to do whatever it takes to form a meaningful connection between the Divine Blacksmith and our country." Count Doroto said.

What motivated him. What motivated a Counter Guardian Spirit to move? What motivated a God to allow one to enter the world? Klimt wished he knew.

Perhaps he should try to meet with Merlin himself.

"I'm afraid it's a little late for us to be doing anything. After handing over the Magic Swords yesterday, he said he was leaving town and probably wouldn't be coming back."

...What?

* * *

Cruz's body and mind had long since gone numb. Even after being healed, the phantom pains of the welts that had been made on his arms and head by his sensei's tiger striped practice sword were stopping him from thinking clearly.

"Get up." Fran said forcefully, though her voice felt like it was coming from miles away.

It had been nearly two hours since they had started sparring, and the young girl had handled him with an almost dismissive air as she used pain to correct his mistakes.

This was a thousand times worse than when he had been merely an afterthought in the middle of the battle between Fran, Amanda and Art, as Fran never gave him a moment's rest.

Conjured water splashed over his body, its cold sending a jolt through Cruz's system, but even this couldn't rouse him.

Giving up on him, Fran went away, after saying he had thirty minutes before they would move on to the next part of training.

"I can't believe you've stuck with this." Rigg said as he and Izel checked on their party leader. "...Hey, you in there?"

Cruz didn't respond, he just blankly stared up at the sky.

It had been three days since he started his training under Fran, though it felt like three months. Three long month of having his fighting style forcibly corrected by the young girl.

"Cruz, this is ridiculous. You should just quit now, before this has consequences on your mental health." Izel said.

"No… I won't give up." Cruz said, the word 'quit' managing to penetrate his exhaustion.

"You've got to be kidding me. Why are you doing this? If you are trying to get that girl's approval, you don't need it." Izel said with a sigh.

"It's also probably not going to happen. It's been three days and she still doesn't even remember your name. She calls you Steve." Rigg pointed out.

"This isn't about approval, it is about improving." Cruz said. "How many of me do you think it would take to make a difference in a fight against someone like sensei, or worse, Amanda?"

"...That's not exactly fair. They aren't normal."

"But if we ever went to war, then the other country would also have people who 'aren't normal'. As I am now, I cannot protect anything. When people like them take the battlefield, I might as well not even exist." Cruz said, forcing himself up. "If I want to be able to fulfill my duty as a knight of the Liuzel household, I need to be stronger."

"And how do you plan on doing that? Miss Fran is leaving tomorrow. You won't be able to heal through the pain anymore." Izel tried to reason.

"...I have thought about that." Cruz admitted. "If I can't heal through the pain, I will just need to find another method to push my body just as hard… It isn't like my current Job has been doing me any favors."

Being a Flash Swordsman had only supported his bad habits, allowing him to get through simple fights by depending on his speed. If he wanted to keep up with Fran's style of training and learn how to fight for real, he would need another Job.

Once his sensei had left, Cruz planned on paying a visit to the Church to get his Job changed. He would become a Mad Swordsman and push through his limits.

Maybe then he could become worthy of his sensei calling him something other than Steve.

* * *

**They are going to start heading out next chapter. **


	38. Chapter 38

"Be careful you two, and be sure to write to me as soon as you get to port Darth, alright?" Amanda said as she squeezed Art and Fran into a large bearhug, that would have likely broken the bones of any normal man, but which the girls returned in kind.

A surprising number of people came to see Fran and Art off. Archer hadn't realized the girls were popular. Or perhaps the Adventurers just wanted to confirm that the girl was really leaving and that they didn't need to live in fear anymore.

Klimt, Dorondo, Gallus and 'Steve' all made an appearance, as well as the Adventurer's Guild receptionists and Amanda herself, but there were also a lot of faces that Archer had never bothered to commit to memory, and who he knew for a fact the girls wouldn't have been able to remember.

(And you be sure to take good care of them.)

[It is only natural that I take care of my Master and Familiar. The only worry I might have is that they eat through our entire food supplies. I've packed enough pre-made meals to last a small army a month, but given the way these two eat...] Archer replied, getting a giggle out of Amanda. [Are you really okay with this? This might be your last chance to tell Fran the truth about your relationship with her parents.]

(Maybe I will someday, but for now, she needs to be able to run free, more than she needs a clingy Godmother like me.) Amanda replied as she finally started to let go of the girls.

[If you are sure. Take care of yourself. The girls would be sad if anything happened to you.]

(You should be more worried about yourself. Take care, Archer.)

With their goodbyes said, Fran brought out the large mithril airbike, which looked more like a flying jet ski. It had taken Archer three whole and to make, and when finished it had become yet another named either, with the Gods calling it Wayfinder. The crowd was more than a little shocked as Fran climbed onto the airbike, with Art sitting behind her and the thing began to give off a low hum before taking to the air.

The man who would become the base for the Nameless Archer spent years practicing his [Structural Analysis] on all kinds of machinery and vehicles, so Archer could have assembled a motorcycle with his eyes closed. Altering the design to make use of the Kipine's Magic Stone had been a bit harder, but still manageable. He had also placed enchantments on it to shield the riders from air resistance and noise. It was a much more comfortable way to travel distances than riding on top of Archer's blade.

Fran picked up the controls almost immediately, due to her [Rider] Lv2 skill, which she obtained over the last few weeks of riding on Archer's sword body.

"Nn!" Fran said as she started to push Wayfinder to go faster. It wasn't the fastest thing in existence, as its [Flight] skill was only at level 5. But it could still out run most airborne Demonic Beasts, and with the Gods blessing it with a sort of solar powered effect, it could run all day without having to tax their mana pools. Not that they couldn't afford to pay the price.

After ranking up to 15, Archer had more than 6000 mana. He was inching his way into having a D-rank mana pool by the standards of Servants. The rank up had also came with a large increase to the sword's 'Memory' boosting the number of Skills they could have equipped at once all the way up to 151.

Between that, the Weapon Skills Fran had gained through their training, and those she had stolen from people who tried to mug her around town, Fran was just a few shy of having 200 Skills. Since 100 had given her a title, maybe 200 would as well.

"We're going so fast! We'll be at Darth in no time!" Art cheer as they sped along.

Normally, it would take a good week to get to the port town by horse and wagon, but Wayfinder was twenty times faster than your average wagon, it would take five or six hours to get there, if they didn't let themselves get distracted… Of course, what were the odds of them not getting distracted?

"Nn?" Fran said as she eased up on the gas and turned her head around.

"Huh? Why are we stopping?" Art asked. They had only been flying for around two hours at that point, so were still not yet at the halfway point of their journey.

"Sense something weird." Fran mumbled.

[Yes, I sense it too.] Archer said. [There seems to be a strong miasma nearby.]

"Miasma?" Fran asked, unfamiliar with the term.

{Miasma: A form of cursed energy which gathers in places where the souls of the dead are allowed to fester. This energy mutates corpses in order to create natural occurring undead.} Rani supplied. {It is likely that there is an old battlefield or mass grave nearby, where the dead weren't given a proper burial.}

"Should we go?" Fran asked.

[Miasma hot spots can be dangerous for the people in the surrounding area. So it would probably be best for everyone if we dealt with it before too many undead are created. But it is your call.] Archer said.

"Going then." Fran said before pushing forward and starting to dive towards the point where the energy was coming from.

As they drew closer, they could see a large, spiked boulder sticking up out of the ground, which seemed to be the center point for the miasma. All around it was decay, rot and death as the land had been polluted by the cursed energy within the stone.

Several dozen undead creatures, both normal animals and Demonic Beasts turned by the miasma's effect, gathered around the giant rock, standing guard over it. They numbered near a hundred in total and probably would have been difficult for most D-rank Adventurers to deal with.

So naturally, Art and Fran carpet bombed them out of existence with magic before they even landed, using their less destructive spells so as to not damage any Magic Stones.

"Nothing but wimps." Art huffed as the dust settled. With no Demonic Beast about rank E, there was nothing there that could survive even an indirect attack from the girls.

[This is strange.] Archer said as they lighted down to pick up the spoils and purify the surrounding area. [All the miasma is coming from this boulder, and the ground around it seems to be displaced, almost as if it had been dropped here recently from high up, and recently. It's also a different type of rock than the surrounding area.]

"Suspicious." Fran said with a nod.

"So what? An evil rock fell from the sky?" Art said with a raised eyebrow.

[Maybe. We should clean things up here before looking… Fran what are you doing?] Archer asked as the catgirl opened up the [Dimensional Storage] and dumped a bunch of bodies onto the miasma stone.

"Seeing if they turn undead. Had good skills." Fran replied.

[...While that isn't such a bad idea, I'm afraid it would take hours before we seen an effect.] Archer said.

"Nn..." Fran's tail wilted in disappointment.

[...We'll take the rock with us and you can do it later.]

"Nn!"

Archer shoveled the giant evil rock into his [Dimensional Storage] before using [Angelic Magic] to purify the area. Then they once again jumped back on Wayfinder and took to the sky.

This time, Archer stretched his [Clairvoyance] to its limit, gazing out all around them in all directions. [Got something. Sixteen miles south by southwest. There is a floating island surrounded by undead birds.] Archer said, staring at the giant mass of land suspended in the sky.

"Floating island." Fran said, her ears twitching. "Want to go."

"I've never been on top of a floating island before." Art said, equally excited as Fran swung Wayfinder around and hit the accelerator.

[Well, before you start sightseeing, we'll need to do something about all those undead.] Archer said as they zoomed towards the massive rock in the sky.

Wayfinder moved quickly, and within five minutes, they were starting to draw close to the floating island. But before they could reach it, the undead surrounding it started to react. Thousands of undead birds swarmed towards them in a massive wave of white bones and sharp beaks, each screeching as they readied their talons.

Wayfinder and some defensive abilities, to guard its passengers against magic based attacks, but they wouldn't help too much with such a swarm.

Luckily, such enemies weren't exactly a problem.

"~[Angelic Light]." Fran said, causing a pulse of holy energy to emanate from her outstretched and every undead the light touched instantly vaporized as their bodies and souls were purified by the light.

[Purification Magic] could damage the undead, and [Holy Magic] destroyed the undead, but [Angelic Magic] annihilated the undead. The only downside being that it was rather expensive to cast. Luckily, they could afford to spend the 1000 Mana on the massive AOE spell.

"Way to go Fran." Art said. "Now lets land up top and find out what's causing all these undead to show… up…" Art stopped talking as they dew closer. "Mom… I can sense one of the Goddess's Dungeon Cores nearby."

[What? A dungeon, on a floating island? That's possible?] Archer said, shocked. The Dungeon's functioned as extremely advanced bounded fields. However, bounded fields were always 'bound' to a location. By their nature, bounded fields were not supposed to be mobile, with very few exceptions.

"Lucky." Fran said, her ears twitching at the prospect of another yet undiscovered Dungeon to explore.

[I suppose you're right. Depending on the strength of the Dungeon, we might be able to get some good EXP and Skills from it.] Archer had to agree, before something flew out from the island. [Be on guard. Something is coming.]

It was a skeleton soldier on the back of a flying skeleton horse, wielding a large cursed sword. Given the amount of magic power it had, it seemed to be around the B-rank.

* * *

Legendary Fighter Skeleton

Race: Undead (Demonic Beast)

Lv. 24

HP: 1568/1663 MP: 988 STR: 647 VIT: 713

AGI: 436 INT: 289 MGC: 521 DEX: 550

Skills: Appraisal Jamming: Lv 6, Rider: Lv 8, Sword Arts: Lv Max, Divine Sword Arts: Lv 1, Sword Techniques: Lv Max, Divine Sword Techniques: Lv 1, Regeneration: Lv 8, Autocast Lv 6, Abnormal Status Resistance Lv 9, Spirit Control: Lv 4, Necromancy Magic: Lv 8, Mental Abnormality Resistance: Lv 9, Elemental Blade: Lv 6, Poison Magic: Lv 6, Magic Resist: Lv 9, Dark Magic: Lv 4, Vigour Manipulation

Extra Skills: Latent Potential Release

Titles: Dungeon Guardian

Equipment: Deathgaze, Full Orichalcum Plate Armour, Aidoneus' Mantle

* * *

"No problem. Even if it is B-rank, it's still an Undead. There's no way it can stand up to your [Angelic Magic]." Art said. "Go for it Fran!"

"~[Angelic Light]." Fran said as she once again cast the beyond holy magic. The light struck the skeleton knight and its mount, but the two didn't seem phased by it at all.

"No way!" Art shouted in disbelief.

[They both have level 9 [Magic Resist] and Aidoneus' Mantle is protecting them from purification.] Archer said as the enemies got closer. [This isn't going to be so easy.]

"Nn." Fran said, welcoming the challenge as she drew Archer from her back. Only she was in little condition to be using him.

While her level 2 [Rider] skill was enough to let her ride Wayfinder, she wasn't ready to be sword fighting on the back of it. Rather, when the knight came close, she found herself having to take evasive action to avoid him sword swings.

"Not good." Art said as she held onto Fran as they did a barrel roll. "[Radiant Bolt]!" Art shouted, as she shot a [Light Magic] spell. The bolt of light energy slammed into the Legendary Skeleton… and had absolutely no effect at all.

Well, that's a lie. It did have an effect, as it triggered the undead monster's [Auto Cast] skill, causing it to automatically fight off a volley of [Dark Arrow] spells back at the girls.

The defensive spells within Wayfinder kicked in, raising a [Magic Barrier] which blocked the attacks, though the draw on Wayfinder's mana caused the airbike to shudder in its flight.

"Well that didn't work." Art said, realizing that her spells didn't have the fire power to bring down a fully equipped B-rank Demonic Beast. Especially not one that seemed designed to take down magic users. "What do we do know?"

"Got plan." Fran replied. "But need to get close."

"How close?"

"3 meters."

"That's close." Art said, though she thought she understood what Fran was planning. Archer admitted that he was smiling to himself as he understood what Fran was planning. "Alright, he might be able to handle direct spells, but let's test her perception skills. ~[Minor Illusion]."

Art and Fran turned around and started to charge towards the skeleton horseman. Art shaped an illusion around them, bending the light in order to change where they were in the horseman's view, causing him to go off course and attack a point right next to them, easily putting him within the 3 meters mark.

"[Skill Taker]." Fran said as she reached out with her magic and grabbed one of the Demonic Beast's skills.

([Skill Taker] Lv3: Target:[Rider] Lv 8: Rarity 3 | Result: Success)

After realizing his attack missed, the skeleton horseman tried to bring his horse around… only to find that much more difficult than normal.

Meanwhile, Fran artfully controlled Wayfinder, using her new [Rider] skills, and attacked the Legendary Skeleton, wielding Archer from the back of her Airbike with ease.

The Legendary Skeleton managed to block her attack, but in doing so fell off of his horse. As the skeleton fell, its confused mount turned about, wondering what to do, in the brief moments before Fran slashed through its Magic Stone.

The mount finished, Fran left the rest to Archer, charging his body with the Angelic Element, using [Elemental Weapon], before throwing him after the falling Legendary Skeleton.

Archer gained on the falling bones in an instant, and while it was still airborne and incapable of defending itself, Archer moved into its blind spot, before slashing through its head, cutting into its Magic Stone.

Then, gathering up the body into their [Dimensional Storage] he returned to Fran.

[Looks like we didn't have to wait until getting to the Crystal Cage Forest before finding more B-rank Demonic Beasts.]

"And that was just the guard. There has got to be some more high rank Demonic Beasts inside there." Art said, all grins as they once again started to ascend towards the floating island.

"Nn. Big game: can't wait." Fran agreed as she continued to fly to the island and the dungeon within.

None of them had noticed that the Skeleton Horse's body had falling down on top of an old rundown church below.

Jean Dovy looked down at his field of Highest-Quality Ghost Grass, ruined by the sunlight, then up at the hole in his ceiling.

Then he grinned. "Fufufufu. Well this is unexpected, but not all together unwelcome." The Devilkin said. "Bernardo! Get my strongest Summoning Stones in order! It would seem that my attack on the Sky Island Dungeon has been moved forward!"


	39. Chapter 39

Ain't no rest for the wicked.

"Ahhhggg…" The Undead Mammoth groaned as it finally went down for the count after five minutes of having its stupidly thick, self-regenerating fur hacked at until they could make an opening large enough for Archer to get at it's Magic Stone.

"Finally, the first floor boss is down." Art said wiping sweat from her brow, but then she started shouting how she really felt. "...WE'RE ONLY JUST NOW FINISHING WITH THE STUPID FIRST FLOOR!" The Demoness fell to her knees. "Goddess, why did you have to allow your Dungeon Masters to turn your Dungeons into such labyrinths?"

"Time consuming." Fran agreed as she went and sat down with her back pressed against Art's.

It had been seven hours since their fight with Legendary Skeleton outside. Seven extremely long hours of first getting past the cannons and the magic barrier on the outside of the floating island, then finding the entrance to the Dungeon, then fighting their way through hallways completely jampacked with zombies while avoiding traps and running into dead end after dead end after goddamn dead end. All the while being attacked from all sides, as wraiths could come through the walls without warning and attack.

Even with how strong Fran and Art were, Archer had been made to save their lives multiple times from unspotted arrow traps and wraiths attacking their blind spots while they were distracted.

While the girls had the physical endurance to put up with it, they lacked the emotional endurance, as the stress piled up. Art in particular started to lose her shit early on after the horde wouldn't let them eat lunch in peace, resulting in her burning almost all of her Mana, destroying two entire hallways with an overcharged [Chaos Magic] spell. It didn't even have much of an effect as the wraiths just kept coming.

[We'll take another break here. Have some dinner and then come up with a plan. I'll keep watch while you eat.] Archer said, bringing out several boxes full of kipine quesadillas with spicy mole sauce out of his [Dimensional Storage].

"Dinner already sounds like a plan to me." Art said with a tired sigh.

Archer also dumped a good deal of normal rocks out and used Earth Magic to shape them into walls around their little party, putting up an area of silence over it to keep out all the groaning and wailing.

(What's the plan?) Fran asked telepathically, so that she didn't have to stop eating to talk.

[...It took us seven hours just to get this far, and we have no reason to suspect that things will get easier. The Cobweb Dungeon had five floors, and this place is likely to have even more.] Archer said, causing Art to give a groan of her own. [I'm afraid that we aren't equipped or experienced at Dungeon Dives without any sort of map. So, one plan would be retreating for now. Now that we know where we are going, we can likely do the first floor in just twenty minutes. Maybe we could go back to town and get Amanda's help. She'd have more experience with this kind of thing than we do.]

They were only two hours away from town. They go get back there before the city gates closed, find Amanda and have a good night's sleep before trying to tackle the Dungeon again the next day. Hopefully with a better plan of action.

Another option was to leave the Dungeon and then burn Archer's [Body Split] for the day to create a bootleg Noble Phantasm to blow the entire floating island out of the sky. Though that method would likely not grant them the EXP they desire, nor would the Dungeon Monsters leave behind their Magic Stones if the Dungeon itself was destroyed before they die.

So that option was on the back shelf.

(I suppose you're right. At the rate we're going, it's going to take us all week just to get to the bottom of this place.) Art agreed. They might have killed a good deal of monsters that day, but it was clear that the floor bosses were where the EXP was at. The C-rank undead mammoth had been worth as much EXP as a thousand of the F-rank zombies and wraiths they had been dealing with up until that point.

But before they could pack it up and head home, a voice caught them all by surprise. "This sauce is delicious! What do you call it!?"

Fran and Art jumped to their feet, backing away from the voice and pulling out their weapons as they turned to face the intruder. Their shock was understandable, as their magic alarms hadn't been tripped and even Archer hadn't detected the man's presence.

The man was sitting on the far side of the room with one of Archer's bentos in his lap as he used his clawed fingers to scoop the quesadillas into a mouth full of rather sharp teeth. The man wore rugged looking black robs and with his hood pulled up, might have been mistaken for a cartoon depiction of death. His skin was so pale it was almost white, and a pair of horns grew out of the sides of his head.

"A demon?" Fran said, confused.

"Fuhahaha, no. I am not a demon. Unlike that familiar of yours, I am a Devilkin." The man said as he licked his claws one by one. Not really expecting anyone to be around, Art hadn't been using her [Racial Mimicry] skill, so her horns and wings were on full display. "I must say, as one summoner to another, that I am impressed. Not just anyone has what it takes to summon a true demon. I've seen a few fiends and lesser demons in my day, but never a full fledged Demon, and a lady Baroness at that. Oh, but now I am being rude, I haven't yet introduced myself."

The man stood tall, holding his staff in hand and grinning wide as he struck a pose. "I am the Scholar of the Undying, Exploring of the Netherworld and the True King of the Dead! I am the Great, the Mighty, Jean Dovy! Fuhahaha!"

"...D-rank Adventurer. Fran." Fran said for her own introduction.

"Fufufu. I'm Art, one of the Baronesses of the Chaotic Realms and also a D-rank Adventurer." Art said, puffing out her chest and using a little illusion magic to add some flare to her wings.

The girls calmed down quickly after the initial shock of the man, realizing that he wasn't part of the Dungeon, and Art even seemed to approve of the man's theatrical nature.

Archer was the only one who recognized the man's name and took a quick peek to make sure he was who he said he was. Sure enough there luck was that chaotic.

* * *

Name: Jean Dovy

Age: 49

Race: Devilkin

Job: Dark Guru

Status : Level 45

HP:180, MP:616, STR:91, END:93

AGI:119, INT:179, MGC:226, DEX:123

Skills: Darkness Resistance Lv6, Chant Abbreviation Lv4, Appraisal Lv8, Presence Concealment LvMax, Kin Summoning Lv8, Staff Arts Lv4, Ghost Operation Lv8, Necromancy Magic LvMax, Dagger Arts Lv2, Compounding Lv7, Poison Resistance Lv3, Poison Knowledge Lv7, Fire Magic Lv3, Netherworld Magic Lv5, Medicinal Herbs Knowledge Lv4, Dark Magic Lv5, Absolute Presence Concealment, Ghost Rampage, Friend of the Dead, Magic Manipulation, Magic Power Boost

Unique Skills: Soul Eye

Titles Scales of Assassination, Undead Creator, Slaughterer of Men, Necromancer, King of the Dead

* * *

Slaughterer of Men: A title awarded to one who has killed over a thousand of his fellow men on a single battlefield.

* * *

Fucking hell.

While his stats were not high, almost universally lower than Fran's and universally lower than Arts, the man had Skills to pay the bills. Intelligence and experience were the man's greatest weapons. He had poison knowledge and stealth that could rival an Assassin Class Servant. And his skills with controlling the undead made him a one man army capable of bringing down entire legions of soldiers on his own.

Jean Dovy, better known as the Slaughter, or Death Bringer, arguably the nation's top B-rank Adventurer.

Amanda was right, the guy looks dangerous, but he acts like a goof.

"Art? What an eccentric name! I like it! And a Familiar who is also an Adventurer, I've never heard of such a thing before." Jean laughed before glancing over at Fran. "And how about you, Mr. Sword. What's your name?"

Fran and Art were surprised, but Archer was not. He had already noticed the [Soul Eye] skill and guessed what it was. Instead of bothering to try to deny it, he would just come straight out. He might not trust the guy, but trying to hide would do no good, since he had a Skill capable of seeing through [Appraisal Block].

[...Your [Soul Eye] should have already told you that I am Nameless, though if you would like to call me something else, Archer will do.]

"Holy shit, it really is a talking sword! And it's name is Archer! A sword named Archer!? What an interesting day it has been!?" Jean laughed, baring his teeth in a wide grin. "I have to thank you for your work. To think I would prepare for ten years to make a Necrophage Potion powerful enough to kill the Legendary Skeleton that has been baring my path into this Dungeon, only to have that same Demonic Beast destroyed the week before my plan came together. It was really a pleasant surprise when the bastard's horse fell through my roof, even though it did ended up destroying my supply of Ghost Grass."

"...Oops. Sorry." Fran said.

"Don't worry about it." Jean said, waving the girl off. "Needless to say, I immediately started to gather all the Dungeon Diving gear I had on hand, preparing to come up after you. I thought it would take some time to catch up to you, but despite your obvious strengths, you appear to be having quite a lot of trouble."

"Yeah, we keep running into dead ends." Art admitted, lowering her head.

"Figured as much. The first time I found this place, I was also unaware of what I would find on this island. I ran out of supplies and was forced to run for my life around the second floor." Jean admitted.

[So you've been here before. That explains a lot.] Archer said as he pieced things together. [I thought it was strange how many of the undead in this place had anti-control skills and [Magic Resistance], as well as magic and purification resistant armor and hides. The Dungeon Master must be aware that there is a rabid Necromancer nearby with eyes on his Dungeon.]

The Legendary Skeleton had nearly maxed out [Magic Resistance], along with antimagic armor, an antimagic and antipurification mantle, and the ability to create energy barriers to further resist magic. Even [Angelic Magic] couldn't blast through all those layers of resistance.

"Hahaha! Yes, he truly has been plotting against me just as much as I have been plotting against him!" Jean laughed, seemingly proud of the fact that the Dungeon Master appeared to be so frightened of him.

[You say that you discovered this Dungeon 10 years ago, and yet you never reported it.] Archer asked.

The smile left the man's face. "Yes, that's right. And I must ask you not to report it as well." He said seriously.

"Trying to keep it to yourself?" Fran asked.

"No. Nothing like that. I don't want to keep the Dungeon to myself. I wish to destroy it!" Jean said. "Ten years ago, I was called in by the Adventurer's Guild to act as an expert to deal with a mysterious rise in undead activity in the area. There were sudden, unexplained tainted mana pools in the surrounding area, causing the undead to rise with unusual frequency, and it didn't take me long to figure out why. You see, as this Dungeon travels around, it drops stones and plants down onto the surface below, infusing its miasma into ground, raising the dead. Not only that, but tens of thousands of souls are held with no chance of purification within these halls. As a Noble Necromancer, tasked with helping to purify the restless souls so that they might one day gain eternal peace, I cannot allow this to stand."

"That sounds really cool and all, but what does that have to do with not telling the Guild about things." Art asked.

"...Because while I have a duty to the dead, I have a duty to the living as well, and if the Countries discovered the existence of this Dungeon, it would be a disaster." Jean said with a shack of the head. "This floating island does not blow to any country. Instead, it floats over three nearby countries, giving each one of them a claim to it. So, if its existence was ever discovered, war would break out over its ownership and thousands more people would die. As such, it is over the greatest importance that the countries never find out. Not until the Dungeon Core is destroyed."

[Makes sense.] Archer agreed. He honestly didn't like the idea of a floating island that dropped stones that raise the dead.

"But it is as you say, the Dungeon Master has been building his army for the sole purpose of combating me and me alone. As such, I am not sure if I can conquer this dungeon alone." Jean admitted. "If it isn't too presumptuous, I would like to higher the three of you to help me attempt to conquer this Dungeon, and if that proves impossible, to capture a certain undead that roams these halls, which has the point to perhaps succeed in the future."

"Don't mind. But, what kind of undead?" Fran asked tilting her head curiously.

"It is the one that first drove me back ten years ago, the B-rank Undead, the Ghost Eater. It is an undead that has the power to consume other undead in order to mutate and grow more powerful. As you can imagine, dealing with such a beast proved… problematic for a necromancer like me, as everything I threw at it was just eaten. However, if I could capture it and convert it to our side, it would be the ultimate ally against a Dungeon of the Undead."

[...You want to capture a B-rank Demonic Beast, alive?]

"Depends on your definition of alive, but yes. Hahaha!"

[...Before we agree to anything, can you describe what exactly this Ghost Eater is capable of, besides eating other undead.]

"To be honest, I have no idea. Ten years ago, it's powers were already considerable, and it took the form of a giant. But it has been feeding and evolving over the last ten years. I can't even begin to imagine how strong it has become or what shape it will have taken."

[...You have plan of attack, don't you?]

"Of course! I haven't been just sitting on my hands for the last ten years! I have devised several possible methods for dealing with the Ghost Eater!" Jean laughed as he stuck a pose. "So what do you say? I will lead you through the second floor and share with you my methods for navigating the Dungeon after that, and in exchange, you will assist me in my indeverse. I will also pay you 200,000 gorudo for your assistance, through the Guild of course. What do you say?"

(What do you think, mom?) Art asked. She knew that Archer didn't like vague plans.

[According to Amanda, he was trustworthy, even if he does look suspicious. He already knows many of our secrets, and could have killed us at any time through poison if he had wanted to.] Archer said, keeping things between him and the girls. [I don't think we have much of a choice but to accept his deal. Unless you want to just leave and go get Amanda. But even then, she wouldn't be able to come without receiving permission from the Guild, which would require us to tell the country about what we found. Jean is right, we can't let news of this dungeon get out.]

(Agreed.) Fran said.

[...Are you alright with this, Art?] Archer asked.

(Huh? Why wouldn't I be?) Art asked with a tilt of her head.

[The Dungeons were created by the Goddess of Chaos. As one of her servants, do you have any problems with destroying it?] Archer asked.

(Not in the slightest.) Art replied. (The Dungeons were created by the goddess to motivate people to get stronger. As Jean has struggled for ten years trying to become strong enough to destroy the Dungeon, it is fulfilling its duty well.)

[Well then, there is no one against the idea of destroying the Dungeon, and in order to get to the lower levels, we will need the help of someone like him. I guess our choice is clear then.]

"Nn." Fran nodded in agreement. "We'll go. But don't need money. Instead, we keep Magic Stones."

"Magic Stones you say?" Jean said scratching his chin before smiling. "Ah, I see. This [Self-evolution] skill of Archer's deals with something called 'Magic Stone Points'. I assume that means that he grows stronger as he absorbs magic stones. Wait, that's not all is it? I thought there was something odd about your skill set. You have the ability to absorb skills from Magic Stones as well, don't you?"

[...It would appear your [Soul Eye] is even more effective than Gallus's [God Eye].] Archer said, both annoyed at having his secret revealed, and impressed by the man's insight.

"Fufufu, I am a researcher after all, so knowing how to spot such things is in my profession." Jean said, puffing out his chest. "However, I can tell you that while my [Soul Eye] does work on [Appraisal Block], it can't see through [Disguise Appraisal], like what I assume your Demoness friend has."

"You can tell that too? Wait, you just said you couldn't see through it, so how do you know about it!?" Art said, surprised.

"You forgot to change your race back after you dropped your human disguise. It still claims that you are human, even though you are definitely not." Jean said with a grin. Art's cheeks turned bluish purple as she flushed with embarrassment.

"I… wasn't really expecting to run into anyone while in here." Art said, making excuses.

"Point is, last time I was here there was a section of the second floor that was filled with 'Mimicry Spirits' which disguise themselves as normal Wraiths in order to catch people off guard, and among them are a few rare 'Disguise Spirits' which possess the same [Disguise Appraisal] as Art does. If you absorb one's Magic Stone, you should be able to obtain the skill for yourself, correct?"

[...You sure are doing a good job of tempting us.]

"You've already done me a favor by paving the way so far and I am asking for your help. It's only natural that I would be helpful as well." Jean said before stretching out his hand. "So, do we have a deal?"

"Nn." Fran nodded her agreement before shaking the man's hand.

"Great! Just let me go grab my things. I left my undead winged tigers a little bit behind so that they wouldn't spook you. They are carrying all of my gear." Jean said before vaulting over the stone wall of their little rest area and disappearing from sight.

[What a strange man.]

"I like him!"

"Nn!"


	40. Chapter 40

It was amazing the difference having someone who was actually prepared for the dungeon around made.

Where the first floor had been a sea of chaos where at every second they had to be careful of traps and ambushes, with wave after wave of enemies pouring down on them until the floors were slick with their blood, the second floor was… almost a walk in the park.

Not only did Jean know exactly where they were going, he was also well equipped with magic lanterns which would repel the wraiths, bringing an end to their constant ambushes. He also had an E-rank zombie that was specially made to identify and either disarm or tank traps. He had necro-repellent stones that he would periodically break and leave in side passages to prevent ambushes from behind, and when they were forced into a combat situation in order to proceed, his ten massive winged tigers and his own powerful [Netherworld Magic] were more than capable of handling the grunts, leaving Fran and Art to take care of the stronger, more [Magic Resistant] enemies.

"Here we are." Jean said as they arrived at a larger room, full to the brim with what looked like rank-F wraiths. "You can't tell just by looking at them, but some of these wraiths are actually Rank-E Mimicry Spirit, just pretending to be wraiths, and somewhere in this mess is the Rank-D Disguised Spirit that you are looking for."

"Man there has to be thousands of them." Art said as she looked around the camber. "How are we supposed to figure out which one is which?"

"Just kill them all and let Archer sort them out." Fran said as she stepped forward, brandishing Archer.

[As nice as that sounds, mind if I suggest a less time consuming method?] Archer said. [The stronger spirits will have more Mana. If we turn on [Mana Thief] the normal wraiths should all be sucked dry rather quickly.]

"Nn. Good idea." Fran said, turning her head to Jean. "Stand back. Don't want friendly fire."

"Will do." Jean said, moving himself and his summons out of the hundred foot range of the [Mana Thief] skill, as Archer burned 27 evolution points to bring it up to its max level.

It had actually been a while since Archer had equipped the skill. Since it simply drained everything around, with the exception of Fran, it wasn't something they could use in the city. It had even sapped away Art's strength, before she got the 'Little Demon Set'. Plus, they just hadn't been needing it, ever since they got [Automatic MP Recovery] and with Archer's Mana pool growing ever larger.

However, it still had its uses.

The normal wraiths staggered and even started to fall to pieces as Archer and Fran both activated [Mana Thief] and sucked aware their mana. It took a little while, nearly three minutes, but the normal wraiths couldn't take it, and soon, all that was left were the Mimicry Spirits and the Disguise Spirit. After that, it was easy to identify the solo D-rank monster, as it was the one who's strength could outlast the drain.

After killing it, Archer and Fran gathered up the dropped Magic Stones and absorbed them all at once, getting the skill and filling up the Magic Stone Points gage once again, for the second time that day.

* * *

Self-Evolving:

(Rank 16 | Memory 167 | Points 104) → (Rank 17 | Magic Stone Value 13615/15300 | Memory 184 | Points 189)

ATK: 922 → 964 MP: 7050 → 7900 Durability: 6850 → 7700 Mana Channel: S-

* * *

Honestly, Archer expected more Magic Stone Points. The Kipine they absorbed from before was worth around 300, as was the Legendary Skeleton from before, with its mount being worth another 100, and the Undead Mammoth giving 80 more. All together, those four Magic Stones were worth about 800 Magic Stone Points, then the Mimicry Spirits had been worth 8 a piece and the Disguise spirit had been another 50, getting 300 in total. So they must have absorbed another 2000 from the F-rank zombies and wraiths they had come across so far, which gave 2 points a piece on average.

1000 zombies and waiths, around 2.3 every minute for those 7 hours… It both felt like a lot, and too little at the same time. Had he been leaving some behind? The Undead Slayer title was gained a LONG time ago, for killing 300 undead on a single battlefield.

Fran and Art had also grown a level from the B-rank Legendary Skeleton, with Art growing a second after a few hundred enemies and the Undead Mammoth. Now Fran was level 37, while Art was level 8. After her stat increases from [Predation Absorption] were applied from her level up, Art's lowest stat was her STR, at 298. Sadly, her food hadn't been very MAG or INT rich, so those stats didn't increase as greatly, but her MAG was moving up towards 400. At this rate, she would have low B-rank threat stats in another month or two.

[Predation Absorption] was a simply insane ability, especially when you are eating A and B-rank monsters every day. Though their supply of such food was running low. Archer would have to do something about that in the near future, unless Art wanted to start eating zombies… Archer was not going to feed her zombie meat… Yeah it was a high concentration of Stat points, but what would soup made from the bones of a Legendary Skeleton even taste like?

That isn't to say that Fran's stats were falling behind. After the sudden spike in the amount of Self-evolution points from their previous Rank Up, Rani suggested putting points into raising Fran's stats, first by raising AGL ↑ (Low), which she got from the zombie corpse of one of the slavers, into AGL ↑ (High) at the cost of 25 Self-evolution Points, increasing the boost it gave from +10 AGL to +100 AGL, nearly a 50% increase to the girl's previous speed. Seeing the effectiveness, Archer gave the OK to use 60 Self-evolution Points to buy STR ↑ (High) and END ↑ (High). Now Fran had over 300 in each of these stats, comparable to some of Amanda's base stats.

Regardless, after getting the [Disguise Appraisal] Skill, Archer modified Fran's stats page to be closer to that of a normal C-rank Adventurer, decreasing her stats by more than half and erasing all of her skills and titles.

[Alright Jean, what does her stats page look like to you?] Archer asked.

"Hm… Her stats are all more average now, but don't you think it is rather suspicious for her to have no skills at all?" The Necromancer asked.

[Fran is always going to be suspicious. I'd prefer to just hide as much as we can.] Archer reasoned.

It was true. Fran couldn't walk down the street without at least someone raising an eyebrow. Trying to make her inconspicuous would be like trying to hide an elephant in a small room. Not technically impossible, but way more trouble than it's worth and it will all be wasted effort as soon as it sneezes. Best to just throw a large curtain over it and then pretend it isn't there. They will still realize there is an elephant in the room, but at least they won't know that it is rainbow colored.

Archer gave his own blade a more realistic fake stat page, simply copying the stats of what these people would call a 'high-quality' Magic Sword, and removing all signs of unique skills.

"It looks like we are done here. Let's start heading for the second floor boss, yes?"

"Nn. Lead the way."

* * *

The second floor boss was another pain in the ass.

The boss was a giant zombie ogre that took up a good portion of the room, decked out in mithril armor and wielding a massive spiked club. Though it wasn't the boss itself that was the problem.

Twelve skeleton mages were casting [Support Magic] on the creature, buffing its high C-rank defenses into the high B range. That along with the beast's thick hide and high speed regeneration made the thing difficult to simply cut down.

"Fufufu, you think your pathetic swings could hit me? Know your place, you insignificant worm." Art taunted the undead creature as she flew in its face, kicking it in the eye with enough force to spin its head clear round.

The ogre staggered a bit, but ultimately simply grabbed its own head between twisting it back into its original position and giving a roar of anger. Art just continued to laugh at it as it swung its club straight at her, the club moving through the girl's image, the illusion taking no damage at all.

One illusion became two, and then four. Soon, the beast was surrounded by small demon girls, each laughing as he tried and failed to hit them.

While Art kept the monster distracted, Fran and Jean focused on the skeleton mages, cutting all twelve of them down in little more than a two minutes.

"Buffs down! Go for it!" Fran shouted.

"Heeheehee, you're going to love this." Art said as she started to pump Midnight's Tear with her Demonic Energy, letting it resonate with the materials of the other demon, causing a whirlwind of dark energy to appear around the blade. "[Chaotic Harmony]!"

The slash blasted the orge's skull clean off its shoulders, leaving the confused zombie to stagger around, completely blind before Fran jumped up onto its shoulders and stabbed Archer's blade, charged with holy energy, downwards, into the monster's chest cavity where its Magic Stone was housed.

With the Magic Stone absorbed, the body died and then tumbled to the ground.

Art and Fran stood on top of the monster's corpse for a moment, as if posing for the camera, until Art sank to her knees. "...Gah… Over did it again."

[You really need to stop showing off.] Archer said with a tired sigh. It was a lesson he had tried to teach the girl several times, but one that she didn't seem to get.

"What's the point in winning a fight if you don't get to enjoy it?" Art mumbled.

[The point is you get to live.]

"Jean?" Fran asked, looking to the Devilkin as he walked over to one of his zombie winged tigers.

The undead creature had been hit by the zombie ogre, its entire lower body crushed, along with one of its wings. The thing was still attempting to crawl, dragging itself across the floor with its front paws and leaving a long trail of fluids behind it.

It only stopped when Jean stood before it and placed a hand on its head. "It's alright, Hunter. You don't have to push yourself any longer." Jean said gently. "You have done more than I could have ever asked and have served me well. I will forever be grateful. Now, I will release you, and send you on to heaven myself. Rest long and while. I hope that we can meet again, in the next life." As the necromancer spoke, his hand began to glow and the undead glowed with it. "[Ascension]."

The tiger let out a sort of purr as its body dissolved and its soul was freed to move on into the next life.

* * *

Since Jean would need time to prep his spell, to summon the Undead that would act as their scout for the rest of the dungeon, it was decided that they would set up camp in the boss room, using stones from Archer's [Dimensional Storage] to barracked the doorways and wards were placed against intruders and wraiths.

Archer and the remaining undead winged tigers would stand guard, while Jean Dovy worked and the girls rested, to regain their mental fortitude. Pulling out their king-sized bed and changing into their pajamas, the pair were asleep in moments.

"To be able to sleep so soundly even in a dungeon. They will make excellent Adventurers." Jean commented as he dug through one of his many packs.

[Exhaustion is the enemy. A true warrior doesn't waste an opportunity to rest. It is one of the many lessons I've made sure to teach them.]

"You trained them well. In a straight fight, the two of them would completely destroy me. I'm not entirely sure if I could even beat them by fighting dirty. To be able to push through an entire dungeon floor by themselves, without the proper equipment… their stamina is unreal. It would normally take three teams of adventurers a week to do what they did." Jean said.

The man wasn't kidding. Most Adventurers wouldn't be able to make any headway against the numbers that they had been facing, but the girls were able to push through. Still, it only took a half hour to do the second floor, with Jean's help, even including their stop by the Mimicry Spirits. Far faster than they completed the first floor.

"Hey, if they die before I do, would you consider letting me…"

[Finish that sentence and you die now.] Archer warned the Devilkin, flashing a bit of killing intent. The Devilkin laughed, rubbing the back of his head before getting back to work. [I don't get you.]

"Hm? What's there not to get?"

[You claim that you want to destroy this Dungeon because you can't stand for how it creates undead, yet you yourself are gathering the corpses from this place to create more undead yourself. Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?]

"Fufufu, I see. I don't blame you for not understanding the difference. There are entire countries where we Devilkin are hunted mercilessly for our craft by those too ignorant to know of our noble cause." Jean said with a evilish chuckle. "The difference is that we Necromancers care about the souls of our dead."

[About their souls?]

"Yes. You see, while the body may have a greater impact on the undead's stats and skills, it is its corrupted soul that causes it to be an undead. A soul that has miasma clinging to it will never find peace, moving from corpse to corpse, suffering for all of eternity if it is not purified. It is the necromancer's job to hunt down these souls and purify them." Jean explained. "However, this job is hard and dangerous, and as such assistants are needed. That is where our undead come into play. We form contracts with the undead souls, and in doing so, we remove the miasma that corrupts them, along them to someday pass on. Yes, they serve us as long as their bodies are able, but when that service is over they are allowed to find peace. A few days or years of labor as a disposable undead compared to an eternity of suffering, not a bad deal, right?"

[...Yeah. Not a bad deal.] Archer said, thinking back to his prospects under his contract with Moon-Cell. He could have easily been facing what the undead souls were facing, an eternity of suffering. Regardless what the Gods had planned for him, it wasn't likely to be worse. [You're still a hypocrite though.]

Jean's only response to that was a long, drawn out laugh. Though his laughing dead when there was a sudden spike in Magical Energy nearby and the stone barrier at the door to the third floor stairway was hit with a thunderous *BOOM* that blasted a hole in the rocks.

Jean was on his feet and both Fran and Art were up as well, even before the head of the undead creatures pushed through the hole.

Archer was surprised at its appearance, as it had the body of a child, no older than Fran, with thin arms and legs, and snow white hair. However, it had black holes were its eyes should have been, making its joyous smile more than a little terrifying.

* * *

Stephon

Race: Ghost Eater (Undead)

Status: Bounded

Lv. 44/65

HP: 2663 MP: 1838 STR: 947 VIT: 913

AGI: 836 INT: 429 MGC: 1221 DEX: 753

Titles: Dungeon Monster, Familiar

Equipment: Rages

* * *

"I found you!" It said, his voice filled with cheer.

In a flash, it was through the gap in the stones and rocketing towards Jean Dovy.

Archer flew in to intercept the attack, but without Fran's physical strength backing up his blade, he lacked the cutting power and the Ghost Eater simply slapped Archer aside.

Fran and Art were moving, pulling out their equipment, but it was too laugh. The Ghost Eater lunged at the shocked Necromancer with its arms outstretched and… "Master!" They all stood shocked as the little undead rubbed its face against Jean's stomach. "After all these years, I'm finally reunited with my Master."

"Stephon, is that you?" Jean said after breaking out of his shock.

"That's right, it's me!" The Ghost Eater said, smiling up at the necromancer with big, black eyeholes.

"...Huh?" Art said, summarizing everyone one's thoughts on the matter.

"This is going to take some explaining."


	41. Chapter 41

"Ten years ago, when I first made my attempt on this dungeon and encountered the Ghost Eater, Stephon was one of my attempts at subduing it. He was a Parasite Ghost, made with the [Undead Resistance], [Absorption Resistance], and [Erosive Fusion] skills." Jean explained as Stephon sat in his lap, humming with a smile that would have warmed up the room… if it wasn't for the eyes. "The basic idea was that when the Ghost Eater tried to absorb Stephon, Stephon would instead overwrite the Ghost Eater's will and replace it."

"And Master's brillant plan worked!" Stephon shouted cheerfully. "Though it did take me a few years."

"I had no idea that my plan had actually worked. And you have been here all alone." Jean said, lowering his head. "I am sorry for making you wait so long."

"That's alright. I always knew that Master would come back and…" Stephon stopped talking as he looked up at Master with his empty eyeholes. "And Master is as amazing as I remember him being."

Jean blinked in surprise before laughing and puffing out his chest. "Of course! I am the Great King of the Dead, are I not!?" The Devilkin said, trumpeting himself as his long lost familiar sang his praise.

[He's some guy to inspire that kind of loyalty.] Archer mumbled to himself as he watched. He could tell that Stephon wasn't just saying it. He truly believed that his Master was the greatest man in the world. For him to still feel that way after ten long years. Archer thought back to his time with Hakuno. Would ten years be enough to forget the kind of bond that they had shared?

...And another face appeared in his mind, that of a stoic young woman with blond hair and deep blue eyes.

"I thought the Ghost Eater was supposed to have been a giant. Not this cute little guy." Art said, giving Stephon a poke.

"Originally, this body was a giant, but it made it really hard to move around, so I changed it." Stephon explained. "This current form was part of the memories of one of the soul fragments that made up the Ghost Eater. That fragment resonated well with me, since we both look up to Master."

"They looked up to me?" Jean said, scratching his chin. "Odd, I've never seen anyone with this appearance before."

"I don't really get it either." Stephon admitted. "But I'm glad we are together now. I've been waiting for so long to be able to help my Master. I can't wait for us to conquer the Dungeon together!"

"Well… I'm sorry to say that there is a little bit of a problem with that." Art said, shaking her head. "You can't be going around fighting in those rags. It is completely unacceptable. If you want to adventure with us, you are going to need some proper equipment!"

"Wha!?" Stephon said in shock, looking down at the sack he was wearing. "But… I don't have anything like that."

"Don't sweat it, we've got a spare set of armor you can borrow." Art said, giving the undead child a wink.

[Spare set? What are you… Oh...] Archer slowly realized what Art was talking about as her grin gained a slightly evil look to it.

"Fran, let's do it!"

"Nn!"

"[Black Veil]!" Art cast the dark spell over the group, shielding her and Fran's activities from everyone's eyes, and putting Stephon at a disadvantage as they teamed up on him.

"Hey, what are you doing!? Stop that! Hey, I can change myse… Wait, this doesn't feel right! Hey!" Stephon shouted inside of the shadows as he was stripped and shoved into the spare armor.

"All done!" Art said in triumph as the darkness cleared, revealing Stephon, dressed in the… well, dress that was the armor that Fran had first got from Gallus. "Now you are dressed like an Adventurer."

"What is this!?" Stephon said as he grabbed at the dress, holding it down from an imaginary wind. If he had blood in his veins or functioning eyes, he would have probably blushed with embarrassment and started to tear up. "I can't wear this! I'm a guy!"

"You were wearing a sack before, so you have no right to complain." Art said wagging her finger at him. "Besides, gender divisions are an out of date concept, and the pale color of the dress really brings out your complexion."

"Nn. Looks good on you." Fran said, giving the undead child a thumbs up.

"But that… Master! Help me!" Stephon said, his bottom lip puffing out.

"C… come now. Stop teasing Stephon." Jean said, probably thinking that Stephon actually did look exactly like a little girl while wearing the dress armor.

"This isn't about teasing, this is about safety!" Art said with a shake of the head. "If you haven't noticed, most of the high ranking undead around here all have armor to go with their natural defences. If Stephon tries to go without, he is risking a lucky shot from a piercing weapon taking out his Magic Stone. To go without armor into battle is the height of recklessness and that is the only spare armor we have on hand. It's as Mom always says, dignity has no place in battle. With the options are life or honor you take life because honor won't do you any good if you're dead… I mean really dead, not undead."

"But this is…" Stephon mumbled as he looked down at the clothes, his face twitching.

[Alright, you've had your fun.] Archer said, tracing a wooden sword and giving Art a light bonk on the head. [I've still got some monster material laying about. I can make a set of armor of Stephon while Jean is preparing his summoning.]

"That's right, you are a Divine Blacksmith, are you not? I suppose you would wipe up a strong set of armor even here." Jean said, with a slight sigh of relief.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Sword." Stephon said, giving Archer a bow of gratitude… He really does look just like a young girl in that dress.

"Ah, but Mom, he looks so cute in a dress." Art said, once more revealing her true intentions.

[You're impossible. Now go back to sleep. We'll be moving again in a few hours.] Archer said as he stored to pull materials out of his Dimensional Storage.

"Can we at least have a midnight snake first?"

* * *

"Can we pick a path of more resistance?"

Jean had been almost stunned by Fran's request as they got to the seventh floor and the girls started to complain about being bored.

After they had woken up that morning, Jean had used [High Summon Undead] to create an undead creature called 'Fly' to act as their scout. Showing once again the frightening levels of ingenuity of the Necromancer.

Fly was a nearly undetectable Spirit that possess mapping skills and the ability [Shadow Clones], a skill that allowed it to create up to twenty incorporeal copies of itself, which it shared a consciousness with.

With the ability to create copies whenever it reached a junction, the ability to pass through walls, and its own telepathic communication, feeding information to Jean, Fly could easily go down every single path to find the next floor and report on the easiest way of getting there, avoiding most of the harder enemies.

Because of this, they completed floors three, four, five and six in less than an hour, with very few battles.

But after so much time spent just walking about, and with the sixth floor boss being a disappointing fight against an Wraith King, which didn't even last an entire minute, Fran wanted to take a route with a bit more action in it.

At first, Jean had laughed the suggestion off, saying that being able to be bored while exploring an active Dungeon was a novelty, but when Stephon voiced small wish to get to fight more with his Master… the Necromancer relented, and they made a beeline for a section of the seventh floor which was crawling with D-rank Zombie Nagas.

At first, Archer was surprised by the man's actions, since he had voiced the desire to conserve their strength for the fight against the Dungeon Master, until something clicked, and Archer felt both horrified and disgusted.

As Fran, Art and Stephon had their fun, cutting apart the undead snake women, Archer took the chance to confront the Necromancer.

[Jean, what is going to happen to Stephon?] Archer asked.

(...What are you talking about?) The Necromancer replied, trying to play dumb.

[You know as well as I do that even if he is your familiar, he is still a Dungeon Monster. Once the Dungeon is gone, what is going to happen to him?]

(...Like all other Dungeon Monsters who are alive at the moment the Dungeon Core is destroyed, Stephon's body will disappear.) Jean said, confirming Archer's suspicions.

[I see. Is there anything that can be done?]

(There is no need to do anything.) Jean said, his voice uncharacteristically detached. (A Necromancer's undead are merely disposable tools, paying off their debts with their services. After the Dungeon is cleared, Stephon's debt to me will be cleared as well. It is only natural that he should be allowed to pass on and leave this suffering behind.)

[If you honestly believed that the Undead's existence was nothing more than suffering, if they were nothing more than disposable pawns to you, then why did you spend so much effort giving your Undead the ability to think and feel?] Archer responded sharply. [Just look at him. He doesn't want to pass on, he wants to stay with you.]

(Archer, I saw your stat sheet and know what you are suggesting. You want to use [Dungeon Core Manipulation] to try to save Stephon, don't you?) Jean said.

[...It should be possible.]

(It should be possible? The Dungeon Master is a Lich, an A-rank Lich. Do you honestly think that we can afford to try to stall out the fight to give you time to mess with the Dungeon Core?)

[That boy waited for you for ten years. Are you telling me that the Great King of the Dead can't hold out for five minutes?]

(...Archer, it is between Stephon's final moments and all the eternal dead souls that are trapped here. The choice is obvious.)

[You're right. If you are allowed to choose between saving the one and saving the many, then you have to save them all.] Archer didn't know where that response came from. It felt like it was something seeded deep inside of him. Old ideals, once thought lost in the Moon Cell's twisted world, came bubbling back to the surface.

Something about Jean, about the man's hypocrisy, rubbed Archer the wrong way. The way he could weigh the lives of those closest to him. He knew that what the man was saying, that Stephon's undead life couldn't be compared to the lives of all of the people, and the souls of the undead, who would suffer if they failed to destroy the Dungeon.

But just because everything he said was true, doesn't make it right.

"Master!" Stephon shouted, his face almost splitting with his smile. "Come on, you're missing out!"

After a short pause, Jean Dovy was all smiles again and laughing his stupid laugh. "Fufufu, then let me show you what I can do!"

Archer watched as the man engaged with the undead, being perhaps a little more flashy than was necessary with his [Netherworld Magic].

{You are taking this personally.} Rani pointed out. With the last few Ranks, her speech was becoming more and more natural.

[...I suppose that I am.] Archer admitted. [Stephon probably knows what is coming. He's probably happy to sacrifice himself for his Master, or a greater purpose.]

Again, she appeared at the forefront of Archer's mind, the young blond haired woman, and the Servant felt his metaphorical heart ache.

[Rani, is it possible to save Stephon?]

{Calculating… if we wanted to remove Stephon from the Dungeon Monster registry, it would require ten minutes with [Dungeon Core Manipulation], if we wish to avoid gathering unwanted attention again.}

[Ten minutes.] Ten minutes in combat terms was an eternity. Could Fran and the others do it while Archer and Rani were busy? Not only would they have to survive against the Lich, but they would also need to not kill the Lich themselves until the time was up.

{An A-rank Lich, empowered by the Dungeon's Core isn't a normal entity. Depending on its Skill set and the systems it has installed within the Dungeon, it could easily surpass the combat prouse of the Moonlight Dragon we faced before, and it is far more intelligent.}

[It's had ten years to sharpen its skills and customize its territory. Even trying to fight it head on like this might be suicide. Jean tells us that he has plans on how to deal with it, but the bastard isn't sharing.] Archer grumbled, until another realization hit him. [...He's planning to sacrifice himself. He's planning on dying in order to kill the Lich and doesn't want us to stop him.]

{Calculating… I currently lack the data needed to check your hypothesis. However, the number of methods of achieving such a thing is limited.}

Archer didn't need confirmation. He could tell. As much as it disgusted him, he understood the Devilkin.

[Jean… you damned fool.]

* * *

"Another high magic resistance enemy." Jean cursed as they reached the eighth floor boss. The Necromancer pulled out some ingredients to quick summon weaker wraiths and some potions for them to carry, his method of providing support. "I'll provide you with as much help as I can, but this one is up to you."

"Nn. Got it." Fran said as she rushed towards the enemy.

* * *

Legendary Spearman Zombie

Race: Undead (Demonic Beast)

Lv. 22

HP: 1213 MP: 634 STR: 647 VIT: 663

AGI: 626 INT: 129 MGC: 151 DEX: 750

Skills: Spear Arts: Lv Max, Divine Spear Arts: Lv 2, Spear Techniques: Lv Max, Divine Spear Techniques: Lv 1, Regeneration: Lv 6, Detect Presence: Lv 8, Detect Lifesignes: Lv 9, Abnormal Status Resistance Lv 9, Control Undead: Lv 5, Mental Abnormality Resistance: Lv 9, Herculean Strength: Lv 9, Flash Step: Lv 5, Magic Resistance: Lv 9, Purification Resistance: Lv7, Vigour Manipulation

Titles: Dungeon Guardian

Equipment: Cursed Spear, Orihalcum Samurai Armour, Circlet of Impurity

* * *

[This one is another B-rank threat and it's spear has an antimagic effect, so be careful. Your barriers skills won't help you if it hits you.] Archer told the girls.

Stephon joined the two in spreading out around the spearmen, pressuring it from all sides. While the Ghost Eater boy was more Skilled when it came to the use of Magic, his high stats had let him handle most of the fights thus far in close range as well. However, that wasn't to be the case here.

[Stephon, back up. Fran and Art can handle this.] Archer advised.

"No, I can help!" Stephon said, ignoring Archer's advice and rushed in the moment the zombie's back was turned.

The sneak attack had never had a chance of working, and while Stephon was fast, he wasn't fast enough to slip by as the cursed spear came spinning around. The little undead boy gave a gasp of shock as the spear head hit him in the side and sent him spinning to the ground.

Seeing this, both Fran and Art got angry and closed in. The Zombie Spearman was strong and skilled, but the pair quickly overwhelmed it with skill, taking advantage of the weak points in the Spear Arts' style, the way that Archer had instructed them to.

Fran landed the first blow, taking off one of the monster's legs, and after that it was all over.

"Stephon, are you alright?" Art asked as Fran drove Archer into the Undead Spearman's chest.

"Yeah… I'm good." Stephon said as he got back to his feet, rubbing at his side, where the spear had hit him. "The armor Archer gave me took most of it. Only broke a few ribs, and they've already repaired themselves."

The armor was a more loose set, closer to robes, much like Jean's, and more focused on full body coverage over maintaining maneuverability. It had some of the Kipine's materials in it, as well as some mithril, but it was significantly weaker than the sets that Fran and Art used. Still, it seemed to have been able to block the cursed spear from cutting through.

You see, this is why you don't leave your entire midsection guarded by nothing but enchantments.

[I'm glad you are alright, but next time, listen when I tell you to withdraw.] Archer said. [Your body is inherently strong, but you don't have the level of close-quarters combat skills that Fran and Art have.]

"Sorry. I just wanted to help." Stephon mumbled.

Jean walked up and patted the boy on the head. "I'm grateful that you want to give it your all, but everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has a role that they need to play in our grand performance."

"R...right!" Stephon said, immediately cheering up.

"Now then, let's take a short rest here and check out our equipment. We have just one more floor remaining until we reach the Dungeon Master. Fortune smiles on those who are prepared." Jean Dovy said, all smiles.

"Nn."

"Sounds good to me. It's past time for lunch anyways." Art said, rubbing her stomach.

Archer remained quiet as he watched Jean prepare for the last leg of their journey, wondering what plan the man had in store for them.

After giving out lunches, Archer watched as they all laughed and smiled, Fran and Art not even realizing that this might be their friends last meal together. Jean and Stephon were both happily marching to their respective ends with a smile.

It was beautiful, in a way, and Archer hated it.

[I don't care what it takes. I won't make sacrifices of them.]

* * *

**Is Archer a hypocrite? **

**...Well yeah.**


	42. Chapter 42

Their short break ended up lasting five hours, as Archer persuaded Jean to delay entering the final floor in order to wait for the sun to go down.

He revealed the existence of Lumiose to Jean, which had been enough to give the Necromancer pause. He didn't personally have any kind of desire for the sword, but he could understand what the sword was capable of. Even during the day, and twelve days away from the full moon, Lumiose's [Moon Phase Empowerment] effect could increase the wielders stats by 40%, with it going up to 80% once the sun was down. With those kinds of bonuses, Fran's strength would be comparable to a B-rank Demonic Beast.

The prospect of having such an ace in the hole was more than enough to convince Jean to delay their final attack.

Jean Dovy didn't know why the old soul was really delaying things, but he didn't mind sitting back and taking a moment to relax and prepare himself. Most of the undead he had summoned so far had already been destroyed, and he needed to make replacements. He had been waiting for ten years to finish this fight. What was four more hours to give them the best possible chances?

Meanwhile Stephon had the chance to enjoy himself, along with Fran and Art.

The Necromancer would occasionally look over at them playing a game or trading stories and smile to himself. His [Soul Eyes] allowed him to look into their souls, and they were beautiful things, free of the darkness that would cause one to become shackled.

It must have been the will of the Netherworld God that Jean be born with these eyes. That he would be able to see the souls of the dead, to help them ease their suffering and ultimately free them to return to the cycle of reincarnation. Most Necromancers understood the principles of the tortured souls, but they didn't understand it the way Jean did. They couldn't SEE it the way he could. It's why he worked tirelessly to help the dead, and why he couldn't sit back and watch as something like this floating dungeon continued to exist.

He felt pride in Stephon, managing to not only maintain the light that he had given to him those ten years ago, but also using it to heal the other soul fragments within the Ghost Eater as well. It gave the older Adventurer some comfort to know that even if things went badly that night, at least these three would not be made to suffer.

Though Archer would be another story.

Jean had been shocked when he first saw the sword and the shadow of the soul within it. A warrior so experienced as to put any S-rank Adventurer to shame. Unlike the children, Archer wore regret on his sleeves. Its fingers were so deeply rooted into him that Jean would have no idea where to even begin trying to help him heal.

Similar to Stephon, he wasn't just a single soul, but one broken soul that had been stretched out until it started to tear, with fragments of other souls stuffed into the holes in order to fill the gasps. Though where Stephon had purified those souls that he brought into himself, Archer had simply accepted their sins as his own, allowing them to eat away at the core of who he had once been. Jean had thought that this was a man who would never be able to pass on, a soul that even the Netherworld God himself couldn't scrub clean.

So it had surprised him when the old soul had called him out. When he had been so indignant about Stephon's inevitable end. In those moments, something had shined through underneath the patchwork of scars that was the man's soul. Something underneath it all that somehow remained untainted, even childish.

Perhaps it was because Stephon looked so much like a human child that Archer became angry, though in reality, his soul was not all that different from any of the others that Jean had used thus far. Archer was focusing too much on the vessel of the Undead, and not seeing what was truly important. Ironic for a talking sword.

Jean would be eternally grateful to Stephon for his steadfast loyalty, and would remember him until the day that he died, along with the rest of the forty-seven thousand, six hundred and twenty-eight undead that he had made use of over the course of his life. And while he had always done his best to make them feel happy during their time under him, in the end, he could not let himself waver.

Give and take. The fundamental truth of the universe and the law that Jean had always work under. Nothing can be gained without sacrifices.

In the past, Jean had gone to war, breaking the code of the necromancers by taking thousands of lives to save millions. Because of it, they had started to call him the Annihilator and Death Bringer. The Gods themselves branded him a murderer whose kill count would make even the most infamous serial killer's jaw drop in shock. Some Guild Masters of the Adventurer's Guild had actually debated putting a bounty on Jean's head, and probably would have if Amanda and Klimt hadn't put a stop to it.

They all thought of him as a deranged psychopath, but in the end, Jean didn't care. He didn't care if no one ever understood him. He would not let himself feel regret. This is the path he had chosen for himself, and if it was the road to hell, then he would walk it with a laugh and a smile.

After all, laughter really was good for the soul.

* * *

**A short chapter to give you a glimpse into what I'm having as Jean's perspective on things and making parallels between him and Archer.**


	43. Chapter 43

The density and strength of enemies on the ninth and final floor was much greater than the floors before then, but they continued to push on, scouting the way and choosing the paths which would be the easiest, trying to conserve their strength as much as possible.

Archer, not having to worry too much about physical, mental or magical stamina management, started to be more and more forward at this stage, killing everything D-rank and below with projected swords, usually before any of the others even had a chance to register that they were there.

Archer's technique resembled the [Blessing of the Sword God] skill, the ability to make near perfect copies of any sword that the user ever touched, which was something of a legendary skill. Only Archer's ability seemed to extend beyond just swords, and could copy any weapon, so long as Archer had once been in its presence.

It was a [Principle of an Element] type Skill, which were some of the most powerful abilities in existence, granting a level of understanding and control over things within the domain that exceeded anything normal skills could match and at a much lower cost. Though it was said that humans who possess these skills tended to be rather fucked up in the head.

Not for the first time, Jean was glad that Fran, and by extension Archer, was on his side. It was unlikely that he would have managed to get this far on his own, even if he had another ten years to prepare. While Stephon's ability to deal with lesser undead was enough to make entire hordes irrelevant, the Ghost Eater was lacking in certain skills and in the face of other B-rank Undead, came up short, with Fran and Art taking up the slack. Just like Jean, Stephon had seemed to have evolved in order to be a powerful Necromancer, but as the Dungeon had been created specifically to deal with Necromancers, the undead child was running into the same problems as his Master.

"Uh…" Jean stopped mid step as he felt Fly start to panic. Their scout had been spotted and his soul was being dragged in by the Lich. Jean quickly cut the connection to the spirit, letting the magic inside him fizzle so that his body would dissolve, letting him pass on before the Lich had a chance to do damage to the little guy's soul. "You served me well Fly. I wish you the best."

"Something wrong?" Fran asked, noticing that Jean had stopped.

"Fly was spotted, but he managed to send me the complete Dungeon Map before he passed on. We are almost to the Ninth Floor Boss Room, and the Dungeon Master is in the room right beyond it." Jean said, making sure not to sound concerned or nervous. "Since we are almost at the end, it is time for you to go Stephon."

"Go? Where is Stephon going?" Art asked, puzzled.

"Fufufu. That is a secret." Jean said with a grin. "Let's just say that I have a special mission for Stephon. One that will put a real damper on the Lich's day."

[...Jean, that isn't going to fly. If this has an impact on how we are to fight our enemy, then we need to know.] Archer said.

"Come now, where would be the fun of me simply telling you." The Necromancer said with one of his usual grins.

[...Fran, Art, we're leaving.]

"Nn?" "What?" The girls seemed puzzled, though Jean couldn't even manage that much as his entire body froze.

[In battle, information is everything. I cannot condon my Master or Art entering into battle alongside anyone who would withhold combat related information from us. If you believe that you have this all so planned out that you don't need us, then fine, we will take our leave.]

"No! Please Archer, you have to stay with Master! I don't want to leave him alone here!" Stephon said, starting to beg the sword to reconsider.

[We won't follow him blindly without question. If he wants our help, then he will treat us like partners instead of tools.]

...He was bluffing. He had to be. The little that Jean knew of the old soul in the sword told him that Archer was not the type to abandon people. But Jean couldn't afford to have them walking out on him now.

He was too close to the Lich to use his undead anymore without risking their souls becoming tainted and he needed to at least make it to the Dungeon Core Room without having used up his final trump card, Aidoneus' Blessing.

But if he did tell them the truth, there was a chance they would leave anyways.

[What is it going to be Jean? Are we allies, or are you doing this on your own?]

"...Even if you say this, I can't tell you anything." Jean said, his voice trying to convey how senser he was about that fact.

[Then good luck on your own. Fran, Art, bring out the teleportation feathers...]

"Please don't!" Stephon shouted in panic.

"Wait, I have a good reason!" The Devilkin shouted, trying to stop the sword. Inside of his mind, the Necromancer shouted, hoping to get the sword's attention. {I can't tell you because none of you three can resist mind readers!}

[...Are you serious?] Archer said, getting the message.

"I'm afraid so." According to the Lich's diary, which Jean had gotten his hands on during the first expedition, the Lich had the ability to read minds, as well as over a dozen other high class skills and multiple Unique and Extra level skills, on top of whatever he had developed over the last ten years. If any of the others knew of his plans, the Lich would react immediately and counter them.

It was another reason why Archer's desire to rescue Stephon was hopeless. It would already be near impossible if they only had to keep an A-rank busy for even a few minutes, but when the Lich knows that you are trying to buy time, it simply couldn't be done.

[...Shit. So that's why you haven't told us a damn thing.]

"Mom, what are you talking about? What's going on?" Art asked, confused by Archer's sudden threat to abandon the mission followed by his sudden acceptance of not knowing what was going on.

[For get it. It's nothing important anyways. Just focus on your fighting.] Archer said with a sigh.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for staying." Stephon said, blowing gratefully.

"Nn. Want to fight the Lich anyways." Fran replied with a shrug.

Jean could still feel how much Archer hated it, but he no longer complained about being kept in the dark. Meanwhile, the children said their goodbyes.

"Good luck, and please, keep my Master safe." Stephon said, giving Fran and Art hugs goodbye. Then he gave Jean one as well. "I'm glad I was able to meet you again, Master. Please stay safe."

"None of that. This is not goodbye, only see you later." Jean said with a wide grin. "And whether you are saying see you later, or hello again, isn't it better to say it with a laugh and a smile? Fuhaha!"

[That is not the kind of laugh appropriate for this scene.] Archer said with a sigh.

"He's no fun at all." Jean complained, giving Stephon a wink.

"Hehehe! Right! See you later, Master!" Stephon said with the widest grin he would manage. With goodbyes said, Stephon turned and ran down a side passage, in the direction of the dungeon's secret miasma reactors, which were fueling the Lich with near unlimited power.

"Let's get moving. We want to get to the Lich before Stephon reaches his position."

[Lead the way then.] Archer grumbled, before using his telepathy to talk to Jean alone. [Jean, I'm not going to let you get out of trying to free Stephon from the Dungeon.]

So, he was still on that. For some reason, the old soul couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that for an undead, passing on is release, and that it wasn't something to be afraid of. Stephon knew and accepted this, but Archer refused. Jean would have liked to spend more time with Stephon, but even if they seperate now, they would meet once again in the afterlife.

The best thing that they could do for Stephon was not to weep for him, but to see him off with a smile and to remember him fondly.

{Archer, you do realize what an A-rank Demonic Beast is capable of, don't you? With the power we have at our disposal, killing one might just be possible, but containing one for an extended period of time isn't. Powerful magic skills, high level summonings, massive offensive and defensive power, instantaneous regeneration from any nonfatal injury, a near unlimited amount of miasma and the ability to drain our HP and MP just by being near him. Not to mention the power to read minds. This isn't an enemy we can take our time again.}

[...You're right. Stalling during a fight against an A-rank enemy is reckless. But I have a plan.]

{Hm?}

* * *

"So this is the Final Floor Challenge before we face off against the big guy himself. They don't seem that tough." Art said, puffing out her chest as they entered the ninth floor's final arena, though her scrunched up face betrayed her real feelings.

"Fufufu, it seems like they decided to give us a proper welcoming committee." Jean said, his mouth twitching as he looked over the three Legendary Undead with his [Soul Eyes]. Two warriors, one with an orichalcum long sword, the other a pair of cursed axes. The last undead was a mage, capable of using powerful support and netherworld magic.

Each of them having high level Magic and Purification resistances, as well as high [Control Undead], rendering Jean's skills almost completely useless as he had to dismiss his own lesser undead in order to prevent them from being taken over. Only high undead and above, who held their own wills, like Stephon and Fly, could resist that kind of control. But most of Jean's high undead had already been destroyed over the last few floors.

Fighting against one B-rank undead had been tough, but Fran and Art had managed it before through superior numbers. Only now they were faced with three.

"Perception skills? Resistances?" Fran asked as the undead began to ready themselves.

"Each of them has a high [Life Energy Perception] and [Magic Perception] Skill. You won't be able to hide from them with illusions." Jean informed. "They also have high level [Magic Resistance] and [Purification Resistance], as well as [Drain Resistance], [Darkness Resistance] and [Physical Barrier]. It seems like these Undead were made more recently, in order to combat the two of you."

"Tch, figures." Art grumbled as she fingered her short sword. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"Let me handle it." Jean was the most surprised of the three when a silver haired copy of Fran appeared in front of them. "You three should conserve your strength."

"...Archer? Is that you?" Jean said, confused. Archer had said that he was planning on using a [Body Split] skill, but Jean hadn't expected this. Rather than responding, Archer just kept walking towards the undead, pulling out a pair of black and white swords as he did so. "Wait, you aren't planning on fighting them on your own, are you?"

Given what he knew of the [Body Split] skill, Archer should have lower stats than Fran did, with all skills also taking a level penalty. With the sword spirit not bothering to disguise his stat page, Jean was able to confirm this. While the catkin girl was tough and skilled, even Amanda would struggle to take on more than one or two B-rank opponents by herself.

Only, Jean was the only one concerned.

"Geez, Mom sure has been aggressive today." Art said, seeming to relax as she folded her arms behind her head. "He normally leaves most of the fighting to us, unless we get in over our heads."

"Archer: super angry." Fran nodded in agreement, lowering her sword.

"I almost feel sorry for those zombies." Art chuckled weakly.

Jean could hardly believe them, but once the battle began, he started to understand.

The two warriors rushed forward, all their stats raised up into the thousands under the influence of the mage's buffs, and each of them had Divine-level Weapon Arts. They displayed a level of skill that could only be matched by a B-rank Adventurer, with physical strength that was far beyond normal humans. Even with Archer's Level 3 [Divine Sword Arts] he should have been annihilated in an instant… only he wasn't.

Jean watched in awe as Archer fought against both at once.

The undead were much stronger and faster than Archer, and they had Divine-level Weapon Arts, but Archer counted with an absolute understanding of the momentum of the attacks. His parries were different than anything that Jean had ever seen before, as Archer threw his entire body into his counter strikes, his blade flowing in a sort of dance which prevented energy from being lost without having his body controlled by the flow. His guards and attacks were one and the same.

Archer's style could rival that of a [Sword Lord].

As Jean watched the battle with wide eyes, something occurred to him. He had never seen a Divine-level [Dual Sword Art] before. While some did end up using dual swords as an extension of the standard [Divine Sword Art] skill. Few choose to specialize in dual broad sword and those who did didn't live long enough to advance to the [Divine Dual Sword Art] stage. Some even believed that there was no such thing as a [Divine Dual Sword Art], as no one had ever refined a dual sword style to the point of earning recognition from the Gods.

In fact, dual swords had a reputation of being a showy and impractical style of fighting. It lacked the control of the one-handed style, the power of the two-headed style, the defense of the sword and shield style. Wielding two full swords was impractical, as any action you made would be locked in by momentum, leaving your wide open. It was stupid to use a two broad sword style.

And yet Archer was doing it. Not only doing it, but doing it well.

Jean gasped as he thought he saw Archer swing too wide, his attack dragging him forward into the range of the sword wielding Legendary Undead, creating an opening.

The necromancer was sure that his luck had ran out, but as the zombie swung, Archer pivoted his entire body, speeding up his second hand in order to catch the blade. The force from the blow caused Archer to spin like a top, further adding to his momentum as he took three high speed steps that barely made contact with the ground, causing him to appear to float across its surface, landing him right beside the undead's left leg, with the zombie placed between Archer and his other enemies.

The zombie toppled as Archer's sword slashed straight through the back of its right leg, slipping into a crack of its Orichalcum armor. The zombie placed one hand on the ground to steady itself as he swung out with its massive sword, hoping to cut Archer in half, but the doppelganger jumped over the swing, spinning into a heavy thrust straight into the undead's mouth, cutting off the top pair of its head.

As Archer pulled the blade back, the head went flying through the air, landing on the ground in front of Fran, Art and Jean, its rotten eyes rolling out of their sockets to reveal a large Magic Stone buried inside.

In the amount of time it took Jean to look down at the head and look back up, Archer had tossed one of his swords at the spellcaster, and used a two hand slash to cut off one of the axe wielders hands. Archer then paired the zombie's second axe before creating a dagger in his free hand to thrust into the zombie's stomach, through another small gap in the armor.

The Legendary Undead seized up as electric sparks came from the dagger, giving Archer enough time to hack off the second warriors head.

He then grabbed the fallen cursed axe with his telekinesis and had it fly straight towards the final undead, getting it to dodge to the right, just in time for his first thrown weapon to come boomeranging back, cutting through the undead's robes and cutting off its head.

Only two minutes had passed, and yet three B-rank Legendary Undead lay defeated upon the ground. "He's.. incredible." Jean said as Archer caught his thrown weapon with ease.

"Yeah, that's mom for you." Art chuckled weakly. "He's so skilled that Fran and I working together have never even managed to land a solid hit on him. Even after trying for hours."

"Will be that strong: someday." Fran said with determination.

As they spoke, the door on the far side of the room started to open up, inviting them forward. "Alright, looks like it is time for the final boss." Art cheered, rolling her arms. "I'm ready to say goodbye to this dungeon."

"Nn! Excited!" Fran nodded in agreement, her eyes twinkling.

[You three stay behind for now. I'll be going in alone.] Archer said to them through telepathy.

(Nn! Why?) Fran said.

[Because I am the one using a temporary body. I'm going to go and scout the situation and get as much info as I can so we can plain out our attack.] Archer reasoned to them.

(...Yeah. I guess that makes sense.) Art admitted. (Just make sure you don't accidentally kill them. We want a part of the action too.)

[I'll try to control myself.] Archer said with a bit of a smirk appearing on the doppelganger's face. Then he sent a message to Jean and Jean alone. [Ten minutes. Just give me ten minutes before following me in.]

Jean let out a gasp of surprise as Archer walked forward into the dark room behind, alone, the doors slamming behind him.

[I am not ready to abandon Stephon yet.]

Archer walked slowly up the final set of stairs, into the dark chamber above, the torches on the wall flicking to life with pale blue flames which provided barely any light at all until he made it to the top of the stairs.

Archer stood in the darkness, staring across the massive stadium sized room which would soon become a battle field as the lights continued to flicker to life one by one along the walls, the frequency increasing until they they met at the far side of the room. A giant bonfire bursting into life revealing the silhouette of a skeleton figure sitting upon a throne.

"Fufufufu, so they've chosen to send a disposable familiar to test me first. I'm almost disappointed." The Lich chuckled as his boney fingers tapped against the side of his staff, the small sound echoing in the massive empty space. "Though I suppose you are an intriguing specimen. So strong as mere body double. Meaning that the original must be even stronger."

As the Lich spoke, the miasma in the room continued to build, pressing down on Archer as if to strangle him. The despair contained within it trying to worm its fingers into him and crush his spirit.

"I will have to do my best to make sure that her body remains in the best condition possible. She will make for the perfect general for my army."

"Hmph." Archer scoffed and the Lich stopped tapping his fingers as Archer released the kind of blood thirst that only someone who had experienced as much battle and death as he had could produce. The miasma was driven back by the wave of killing intent that radiated from the doppelganger body. "You know something. I've been really irritated today." Archer said as he started to lift his swords. "I think I'm going to take out some of this irritation on you. So try not to die too quickly."

"...FufuHAHAAHAAA!" The Lich broke out into roaring laughter at Archer's declaration. "You think that a mere fake can defeat me? Well, if you can manage to reach me, I will invite you to try! [Greater Summon Undead]!"

The Lich struck down his staff and ten magic circles appeared throughout the arena, each one spawning a Legendary Undead, a Demonic Beast at the B-rank, with a variety of weapons, army and skills.

"Tch, how tedious." Archer grumbled before starting to walk forward. "I won't let you get in my way."

The undead gave piercing screams as they started their charge, and the first battle against the Lich finally began.


	44. Chapter 44

{Wielder Fran has the last Magic Stone on standby. We can rank up at any moment.}

[Good.] Archer replied to Rani's status report. [Then I don't need to hold back.]

While the flow between him and his sword body was slightly weakened by distance, he still had 8000 units of mana at his disposal, as much mana as an E-rank Servant or about a quarter of what he had once possessed, which he could use without causing Fran any problems in the future.

"I am the Bone of My Sword." Archer said as the Legendary Undead attacked. Ten undead at once, each with a high level [Teamwork] skill and Divine-level weapon and magic skills. It was a force that even Amanda wouldn't have been able to handle by herself without going all out.

So going all out was exactly what Archer did.

In what would seem like the blink of an eye, one hundred magic swords shot out from the air around Archer's head, flying towards the Undead and disrupting the coordination in their attacks.

The front-line reeled at the shotgun blast of sharpened steel which slammed against them, each one twisting its body to protect itself with the most heavily armored and shielded parts of their body. Only the Legendary Undead Monk, who had been the last armored, had lost limb from the initial attack, but that hadn't been the objective.

The overcharged swords began to glow, as Archer weakened his grasp on their structure, Breaking them at a distance. The result was similar to a carpet bombing, which shook the entire room, knocking the front line undead around and stopping their charge.

Archer immediately closed the distance between himself and the nearest Undead Knight, prepared to take it down before his enemies could recover. However, it wouldn't be that easy. The undead wasn't taken by surprise and managed to block Archer's attacks with its shield without receiving any damage.

Three separate spells, one water, one fire, the last blast of darkness, all flew from a trio of spellcasting zombies towards Archer who rushed to the side in order to dodge. The high powered magic, which would have destroyed Archer's doppelganger body, washed over the Undead Knight, barely even phasing it through its stacked magic defense.

Archer clicked his tongue in annoyance as the seven close-quarters fighters all surrounded him and closed in, the mages in the back starting to channel their spells.

Fighting against seven fighters that were stronger than him at once while their allies pelted the field with large area effect attacks without any worry of friendly fire. There was zero chance of victory, not without some form of counter play.

Luckily, Archer had planned for such a scenario.

As the mages finished their spells and shot off three large red balls of Netherworld energy, the seven fighters prepared to attack, planning on taking advantage of any openings that Archer would make as he was forced to run.

Archer traced three copies of the same [Anti-magic Mithril Sword] that he had used in his fight against the Divine Beast Lolth, shooting them into the path of the incoming spells. As soon as the spells came in contact with the sword, the enchantments within the blades reacted and the swords dragged all the mana around them in upon themselves, destroying both the swords and the magical attacks at the same time.

The magic was taken care of, but Archer still had to contend with four spears, two swords, and a pair of open fists all coming at him. But with [Concurrent Consciousness], allowing him to multiple his thoughts ten times over, keeping track of a mean seven opponents was child's play.

Towering great shields appeared on either side of Archer, obscuring him from the vision of those on either side of him as he rushed towards the spearman before him, using [Support Magic] and [Flash Step] to suddenly increase his speed, taking the undead by surprise and letting Archer get an easy parry as he moved past the spear's attack range.

He consumed some more of his mana supply to trigger [Herculean Strength] as he pushed everything into a single slash. The edge of Shiroko glowed from a combination of [Elemental Weapon (Storm)] and [Vibration Fang] increasing its cutting power, giving Archer the strength he needed to split the spearman in half at the waist.

Archer shot a traced broad sword into the ground in front of him as he turned, the heel of his foot pressing against the flat of the blade, giving him a surface to kick off of in order to rapidly change his direction. He shot like an arrow towards the heavy swordsman on his right.

The zombie managed to turn its body around toward Archer, giving a wide swing with its large two-handed sword. But the swing was too slow and easy to read. Archer jumped up, his foot touching the sword as it passed underneath him before he went for the monster's neck.

The head spun through the air as the remaining undead attempted to reposition to once again surround Archer. Spears thrust forward and swords swung at Archer every time his back was turned, requiring some fancy footwork to dodge as he traced more [Anti-magic Mithril Swords] to intercept more magic attacks. Archer even managed to get a solid hit in on the already injured Legendary Undead Monk, bringing his number of active enemies down to seven.

"[Greater Undead Summoning]" The Lich chuckled from the far side of the room.

Three more magic circles appeared and two Legendary Undead Berserkers and a Legendary Skeleton Archer appeared to replace the three enemies that Archer had just killed.

[Great.] Archer mentally grumbled as he continued to fight.

{Extra Skill: Greater Undead Summoning: a skill which allows the user to summon up to A-rank Undead Familiars.} Rani supplied as Archer focused on fighting off the undead. {The cost of summonings is roughly 500 per B-rank familiar summoned, with the cost doubling to ignore the incantation. Even as an A-rank Dungeon Master, the Lich should not be able to summon so many. Attempting to find an explanation for how the Lich can perform so many summons without running out of mana… Over three hundred possible hits. More data will be needed to figure out his method.}

[He seems content to let him struggle with his minions, but you should keep watching him. Tell me if you figure anything else out.] Archer said calmly.

They had managed to find out nothing new about the Lich, as he had a skill to disguise against their appraisal. The only thing they knew for sure was that he had a [Mind Reading] skill, something they were taking precautions again by using [Concurrent Consciousness] to hide information behind layers of thought. They merely hoped that having to listen to ten of Archer's combat focused minds playing at once would stop him from hearing anything important.

[I wonder if ten is the maximum number of Familiars he is permitted by the summoning system.] Archer wondered briefly. Archer and Fran could only hold a contract with a single C-rank Demon at once, because of the rules that governed [Summoning Magic]. Perhaps 10 B-ranks was the Lich's limit. It would explain why he would only bring his total number of allies up to 10 every time he executed a summons.

"I'll admit, I didn't expect you to last this long. Are you tiring, little girl? If you would like to rest, just let me now. I will happily let you rest for the rest of eternity. FUHAHAHA!" The Lich laughed as he watched Archer's battle from on top of his throne at the far side of the room.

Archer ignored his taunts, focusing on dealing with the enemies that surrounded him, buying Rani more time and hopefully tiring the Lich for later. [Recovery Magic] stopped him from falling to physical fatigue, his mana supply was not even a quarter of the way drained yet, and his mental stamina could keep this up for a few more hours while using [Concurrent Consciousness].

After seven minutes of fighting against the Legendary Undead, he had managed to cut down nine of them, though they were always replaced by more.

"It seems that my current undead aren't enough of a challenge for you. How about we try this? [Overload Summons: Greater Undead Summoning]! [Reinforce Undead]!" The next two sword and shield wielding undead's bones were covered in glowing runes and magic circles appeared under each one of the monsters as the Lich cast its support magic.

The previous Undead's stats all doubled from the support magic, while the new monsters had quadrupled the stats of earlier iterations, giving them stats equal to a low A rank Demonic Beast, something Archer felt as they moved faster than he could have expected. He was forced to block the sword swing, which sent him flying backwards.

"~[Lesser Heal]." Archer mumbled the heal spell as he was still flying backwards, repairing the damage to his arms from the strain of blocking the undead's attack. He then twisted his body in the air in order to land on his feet before kicking off of the ground to jump over the half a dozen attack from the undead who had all swarmed him to try to take advantage of his moment of vulnerability.

Archer tossed his copies of Kuroko and Shiroko towards a pair of bowman who were attempting to line up shots on him, before tracing another one of his weapons, the [Explosive Adamant Claymore]. The massive sword could absorb a massive amount of mana, before being destabilized at range to cause a huge explosion.

Archer pumped the blade up with a whopping 1000 units of Mana before hurling it down toward the Undead who had just surrounded him. He then traced a giant tower shield underneath him before letting the sword destabilize.

*BOOM*!

The entire room shook from the explosion and even the heavily strengthened Dungeon floor had a crater blasted into it as the sword detonated in an explosion that could rival those Archer had used to make when Breaking Hrunting.

The Legendary Undead who had been beneath him were blown to pieces by the explosion and Archer returned to the ground moments later with an almost completely cleared field, with just the two archers and a mage remaining.

"[Overload Summons: Greater Undead Summoning]. [Reinforce Undead]." The Lich declared, and seven more Legendary Undead began to appear, to take the place of their fallen brethren. "Feel free to keep trying. I am finding your futile attempts to be quite entertaining." The Lich said, lazily waving at Archer. "I wonder how much longer your stamina will last. I figured you would have been tapped out a long time ago. FUHAHA!"

Archer's mouth twitched in annoyance. He was starting to get fed up with this Lich's attitude. So he traced a few dozen swords and sent them all flying towards the Lich.

He had no delusion that they would actually be enough to injure the monster, but maybe they would get him to shut up for five minutes. He's laugh was really starting to grate. But the Lich didn't even more as the sword flew at him like arrows. Instead, it was the swords themselves that moved.

Archer blinked as the swords seemed to bend and then straighten as they changed directions in mid flight before rocketing off in random directions. [What was that?]

{Time/Space Magic: Lv5 spell: Turn Arrow: a spell which bends space in order to stop attacks.}

[Time/Space Magic]? The Lich could actually bend time and space?

[Do you think that this is enough?] Archer asked Rani as he did his best to avoid the super charged undead that surrounded them.

{It should be.} Rani replied as she observed the battle field.

[Then I will leave the rest to you.] Archer declared before pulling out all the stops.

Archer cast as much speed enhancing magic on himself as he could and Rani spent 37 self-evolution points in order to upgrade [Flash Step] to [Instantaneous Movement] and max its level out.

Archer sank 500 points of mana into increasing his speed, causing him to shoot forward like a bullet fired from a gun, rushing past the undead and towards the Lich. Jumping forward, Archer traced a Kuroko and Shiroko and enhanced them as much as he could, as if he was going in for the kill.

With a shot, he swung the blades towards the Lich… only for them to go through nothing but air, cutting the Lich's chair into pieces.

"Fufufu, did you really think it would be that easy?" The Lich said from where he teleported to, a few meters away. Archer crumpled to the ground, his swords disappearing. "Oh, was that a last ditch effort? Has your body failed you?" The Lich taunted as Archer just continued to pant, as if struggling for breath. "Well, you did at least entertain me, so I suppose I could grace you by killing you with my own hands."

A twisted black and red ball of miasma formed around the Lich's hand which he then pointed towards Archer.

"Goodbye, Faker. I hope your original provides me with just as much of a show." The massive ball of energy flew towards Archer, ready to blow him to shreds.

The light and noise it made stopped the Lich from seeing the grin on Archer's face, or hearing as he activated his final skill. "[Dungeon Core Manipulation]."

Right as the attack hit, Archer quickly transferred his soul into the Dungeon Core which was exactly 10 meters away, the maximum distances with which he could use the [Dungeon Core Manipulation] skill.

Archer opened his eyes to find himself standing inside of the same dungeon as before, only with hundreds of strange glowing lines on every visible surface.

He was back in the Between World, only this time, Rani was not there with him.

"I don't have time to waste." Archer said before dashing over to the console, his mind struggling to remember all of the inputs that Rani had been teaching him for the hours before they had entered the final set of floors. "I just have to remove Stephon from the registry."

He had to hurry, before the Lich or something else noticed him.

He was not going to abandon Stephon. He was never going to let anyone get sacrificed like that again.

* * *

Jean was preparing for the final battle when Fran and Art both shot up, looks of panic entering their expressions.

"Archer?" "Mom?" The pair said at the same time.

"What is it?" Jean asked, though he was already pretty sure he knew the answer.

"We can't sense mom anymore." "Archer: vanished." Art and Fran said as Fran took the sword from her back and started to shake it lightly. "Archer. Answer me. Archer."

Jean's expression twitched slightly. He had already figured that Archer had gone on ahead alone in order to try to remove Stephon from being classified as a Dungeon Monster. He had lied to the children and hid his intentions so that their minds could not be read and his plans revealed.

But the pair of young girls, who had been relaxed while listening to the aftershocks of the battle waging above them, were now freaking out as their invisible guardian suddenly cut off all contact with them.

"I don't understand. It was just a doppelganger body. Even if it was destroyed nothing should have happened to him." Art said, shaking her head in panic. "Come on mom, this isn't funny you know!? Answer us!"

{The Lich possesses the ability to support 10 B-rank Undead servants at a time. He also has access to Time/Space magic.} Rani reported from within the sword. {Take this time to plan how you will make use of this informat...}

"Rani! Where's mom!? What happened to mom!?" Art interrupted Rani, tried to demand answers from the sword's other personality.

"Archer: okay?" Fran asked.

{Nameless will be fine. You two must focus.} Rani said, her voice monotone.

She wasn't exactly good at dealing with the children, and didn't know what to say to calm them down without revealing what Archer was doing.

Rani was also somewhat worried about the other spirit, but understood why they had to separate.

If Rani had gone into the Between World with Archer, or if she had gone herself and left Archer behind, then Fran would have lost all of the stat bonuses and skills that they had collected. Archer would have been trapped within the sword, without any of the abilities that would permit him to interact with the outside world.

Archer was entrusting her to keep the children safe while he rescued Stephon.

The door leading up to the boss chamber started to reopen and Fran and Art nearly made a dash toward the opening. Rani used her telekinesis to lift the pair off the ground, stopping them from running in.

{We need to wait and plan.} Rani insisted to the two.

"Let us go! Mom's still up there, I know it!" Art shouted as she struggled with her wings, trying to push herself forward.

{Nameless is not up there, and he isn't in danger. You must not go yet.}

"She is right." Jean said, as he took out the secret weapon he had been planning to use against the Lich from the very beginning, 'Aidoneus' Blessing'. "We still need to wait for everything to be in position. We cannot go yet."

"But Archer…" Fran said, her eyes glued to the open gate.

"We need to stick to the plan, no matter what." Jean said calmly.

"**And what plan would that be exactly?**" A booming voice echoed all around them before a massive magic circle appeared under their feet.

Jean's eyes widened in shock as the group was blinded by a flash of light.

"Oh no..." Jean said as his vision cleared and he found what he had been dreading to find.

They had all been teleported into the final chamber, the Lich sitting on the far side, on a throne that looked to have been cut in half. Bodies of slain undead were scattered throughout the room, but ten of them still remained standing, five on each side of their liege, all of them glowing with the power of his miasma.

"I have grown bored of your delaying tactics, so I have decided to bring you all here to me." The Lich said before starting to cackle madly. "Do try to at least provide me with as much entertainment as that copycat from earlier."

"What did you do with Archer!?" Fran demanded.

"What did I do with them? Fufufu…! I destroyed them of course!" The Lich shouted.

Fran and Art looked shocked before they started to shake with anger. "You're lying! There is no way you could have beat mom!" "Archer: Greatest!"

"Believe what you will, but I will soon do to you what I did to that one." The Lich said, snapping his bone fingers… which didn't actually produce a sound, as such fingers could not snap.

The Legendary Undead started to rush forward and the second battle against the Lich began.

* * *

Self-Evolving:

(Rank 17 | Memory 184 | Points 152) → (Rank 18 | Magic Stone Value 15393/17100 | Memory 202 | Points 242)

ATK: 964 → 1008 MP: 7900 → 8800 Durability: 7700 → 8600 Mana Channel: S-

* * *

**The moment you realize that Archer's entire battle was just staged in order to scatter as many high ranking magic stones around the battlefield as possible so that Fran/Rani won't have any fuel problems during their fight. **

**17 B-rank Magic Stones ~ 80,000 magic stone points or +4 ranks, bringing Archer/Rani up to Rank 22, meaning Fran is about to get a +50 in all stats (From Wielder All Stats UP (medium) turning to (large)) along with all the things that Rani can buy her without Archer's supervision. (And that is before the 10 that Jean is going to kill and all ones that Fran and Rani will be killing themselves while buying Archer time)**

**Power spike incoming. **

**By the end of this, ****Fran's stats are all going to be 450+. (baseline 150 minimum + 100 (Wielder All Stats UP ****(High)****) + 100 (STR UP (High)) + 100 ****(normal All Stats UP ****(High)****)****) Plus the multiplier skills like [Super Herculean Strength] and [Instantaneous Movement], giving 4x to the stats in exchange for a massive amount of mana, and the multiplier from Lumiose. She is monstrously strong with around a C~B-rank servant stat line at the low low cost of about 500 MP-per-sec.**

**The sword is going to have something like rank 25 with 1300 base attack, 14,000 MP and +750 self evolution points (Sword's scaling be busted)**

**That's why I don't feel like Lumiose was too OP. Because when you look at these Godblades, they just have stupid stats and abilities when at full power.**

**At rank 100, Archer would have something like 11,000 attack, 250,100 MP and would effectively give its wielder +300 in all stats and every skill in existence. Lumiose too OP? FUCKING THAT SWORD IS TOO OP!**


	45. Chapter 45

They needed more time. They needed more time!

Archer had only just started to interfere with the Dungeon Core, and had told them to hold off on entering the fight against the Lich for ten minutes, but now the Lich had dragged them into the fight early.

Jean bit his lip in frustration as he knew that they would be doing this without Archer's help this time. Whatever plan the spirit had had was as good as gone.

(I'm sorry Stephon, but there is no hope.) Jean said to himself as he readied his staff, preparing to do what must be done. He could not take chances. He could not risk that this Dungeon continued to exist… or worse, that someone else conquered it and found out what was inside.

Jean had not been entirely honest with Archer and the others. He had hidden the truth about the Undead Dungeon, and how it was connected to his own past. He had not told them that the Dungeon was created from the corpse of a military research facility, or that the purpose of that facility was to create another person like him, another Jean Dovy, another Annihilator.

When Jean had broken the law of his people and used [Netherworld Magic] to bring down an entire army by himself, including multiple A-rank individuals, he had revealed to the world the terrible power of [Netherworld Magic]. And while many had looked upon his achievement with horror, other, darker hearts felt consumed by greed for such a power.

But [Netherworld Magic], the divine-level of [Necromancy Magic], was rare. So rare that there were only two individuals in the entire world who had it. Living beings weren't normally compatible with the power of the Netherworld. However, there were none living beings which could more reliably master it.

The research facility set up upon this floating island was constructed in order to create and enslave a Demonic Beast capable of using [Netherworld Magic], to create a Lich. Hundreds upon thousands of souls slowly tortured, people cut apart limb from limb and bathed in the misery and despair of this accursed place, all of it done to create a living tool of war… and in the end, the evil bastards succeeded. They created the Lich.

However, as if the Goddess of Chaos had seen what they had done, and had decided to smite the people responsible, she sent onto the Lich her divine bless, a Dungeon Core. She turned the Lich into a Dungeon Master, stripping away all of the enchantments that were meant to control it, letting it run wild against the monsters who created it before they could ever reveal their findings to the outside world. At the same time, it bound the Lich to the floating island, preventing it from causing untold destruction to the entire continent. But even when contained, the Lich was a danger to everyone, and so long as the Dungeon existed, the tortured souls within would never know peace.

This, all of it, was Jean's fault. He had been told a thousand times to never use his [Netherworld Magic] in a war, but he had been too much of an idealist back then to listen. He had wanted to show the world that Necromancy could be a power for good, that it could protect both souls and lives, and because of it, this place came to exist.

Jean could never let the world find out about it. He could not let them know that not only did these experiments exist, but that they were a success.

He would defeat the Lich and release all of the tortured souls that were trapped in this hell hole, and then he would destroy everything. He would not leave so much as a scrap of paper behind. It was the only thing he could do to pay for his sins. He would succeed, even if it cost him his life.

"I wish mom was here right now." Art golped as she saw the 10 supercharged B-rank Undead coming towards them, each one with their primary stats raised well into the thousands. "How exactly are we supposed to deal with this?"

"Nn..." Fran growled as she reached towards her back and drew her sword… not the blade which had housed Archer, but the Sword of Dreams, Lumiose. The golden blade shimmered with the silver light of the moons' magical energy which slowly spread over Fran's body, increasing all of Fran's stats by 80%. But +80% still left her at an attack of less than 700.

Fran might have been skilled, incredibly skilled for any adventurer, regardless of age, with her level 6 [Divine Sword Arts], but she couldn't handle such numbers by herself.

Fran, Art and Jean working together might have been able to handle two such opponents all together. Jean was sure that they could not win this battle normally.

"Fran, leave this to me!" Jean said, stepping forward and drawing out Aidoneus' Blessing. The bony staff with its several skulls started to rattle in Jean's hands as he heard the faint whispering of a cold voice in his ear.

*Do you plan on sacrificing yourself?*

Yes. Jean had planned on sacrificing himself. That had been the entire reason why he had brought the staff with him.

Aidoneus' Blessing was a Divine Artifact, one blessed by the Netherworld God and bound to Jean so that only he might use it. It was given to him to be the tool for his redemption, so that he could make sacrifices in order to make up for his sins.

"Fufufufu. So you still have a trick up your sleeve, do you Noble Necromancer?" The Lich cackled from the far side of the room.

"Of course! Someone as great as me would not fall before such pawns, not so long as I have my staff!" Jean said with a grin of his own as he started to feel the staff nibbling at him. He could feel its hunger, and so, Jean fed it. A quarter of his life force should be sufficient. "Hahahaha! Behold my Trump Card, Aidoneus' Blessing!"

As Jean shouted the weapon's name, he could feel its teeth sink into him, starting to draw out his life's blood to be used as fuel. The Necromancer's legs almost immediately gave out, as his strength was sucked out of him. Then, the mouths on the staff dropped open and a mournful hymn began play from those open mouths.

"Aidoneus' Blessing, grant peace to those unable to achieve salvation. Sing them a melody of love, hate, and resentment!" Jean said as he fortified himself against fainting.

White blue light came from the staff, twisting through the air like a snake at first before rapidly branching out and spreading through the room, rapidly approaching the Undead.

"Escape, my Servants! Escape the light!" The Lich shouted to his Undead servants, who all moved to obey, however, there was nowhere for them to escape too, the room was closed off and the light was ever expanding.

It expanded until the party could see nothing through the light.

However, when the light finally did fade, the Undead minions were gone, nothing remaining of them, save for their magic stones upon the ground.

"Amazing." "Nn." Art and Fran nodded in agreement. Even [Angelic Magic] had not been able to purify the undead through their stacked magic and purification resistance. However, Aidoneus' Blessing was different. It was a Divine Artifact that used the life force of the user in order to use the power of the God of the Netherworld himself, and there was no soul that could ignore his call.

Which was why Jean was dumbfounded to hear clapping coming from the other side of the chamber.

"It took you only an instant to rid me of my soldiers!? Kuakakakakaa! What was that you did there!?" The Lich was still alive, seemingly untouched by Aidoneus' Blessing. He didn't even seem upset about the loss of his minions. If anything, the monster was overjoyed.

"I should be the one asking you that question." Jean said, barely managing to hide his disbelief.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" The Lich asked, though he seemed very pleased with himself.

"This staff is a divine artifact that possesses the ability to cause any and every sort of undead to ascend to the heavens. And so, by that logic, you too should have been influenced by its effects. Why exactly are you still here?" Jean said before he started to cough up blood and he crumpled down to the ground.

"Jean!" Fran shouted as she rushed over to him and started to cast high level healing magic. It had little effect at all on Jean's condition and the Necromancer didn't even seem to notice as he continued to look at the Lich with a grin on his face.

"Kukakaka! I see now. The item you possess allows you to use a high level, area of effect purification spell by consuming your own life force. It looks like getting rid of all those high level undead did quite the number on you! Kukakaka!" The Lich continued to laugh. "So what will your next move be? It appeared as if your trump card had no effect on me."

"Don't waste your mana. My injuries can't be healed." Jean said as he pushed Fran's hands away, stopping her attempts to heal him. "I got rid of the minions, but it would appear that the Lich himself will be up to…"

"[Overload Summons: Greater Undead Summoning]. [Reinforce Undead]." The Lich said and Jean's words died in his mouth as a new set of 10 Legendary Undead Soldiers appeared to replace the group he had just slain.

Jean had used his trump card, exchanged much of his life force, and accomplished nothing.

"Kuhaha! Tell me, how does despair feel!?" The Lich laughed as his soldiers stepped forward. Jean didn't know what else to do. He could use his staff again, but all that would accomplish was killing him. Jean wasn't even sure he could do it. He could hardly even breath do to a mixture of exhaustion and the Lich's [Dread] skill.

But the Lich's laughter stopped as Fran stepped forward in front of Jean and Art, lifting up Lumiose as she glared at the skeleton. "No afraid." She said simply.

The Lich stared at her in shock before starting to laugh. "Splendid! How splendid! I cannot wait until I see the look on your face when all that hope takes a sudden turn and transforms into despair. You will make for fine undead! Kukakakaka!"

"I… I'm with you." Art said, stepping forward and pulling out her own short sword.

{Art, guard Jean.} Rani ordered, surprising the girls. {Fran and I will hold back the undead.}

"C...can you do that?" Art asked nervously.

{...Calculating.} Rani said, pausing for a moment, making Art nervous. Then, ten arrow like threads shot out of the sword body on Fran's back, each one piercing one of the Magic Stones that were scattered across the battlefield.

{Absorbing Magic Stone Points. Rank increasing from Rank 18 to Rank 20. [Wielder ALL ↑ Medium] has evolved into [Wielder ALL ↑ High]. Current Self-Evolution Point reserves are at 437.}

{Calculating best allocation of points. Calculating...}

{150 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Unlocking [HP ↑ High], [MP ↑ High], [INT ↑ High], [MGC ↑ High], and [DEX ↑ High]. Unlock complete. [ALL Stats ↑] now available for purchase}

{200 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Unlocking [All stats ↑ High]. Unlock complete.}

{10 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Upgrading [Support Magic] into [Support Magic SP]. Upgrade complete.}

{12 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Upgrading [Herculean Strength] to maximum level. Upgrade complete. [Super Herculean Strength] obtained.}

{27 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Upgrading [Super Herculean Strength] to maximum level. Upgrade complete.}

{27 Self-evolution Points have been consumed. Upgrading [Physical Barrier] to maximum level. Upgrade complete. [Physical Barrier] and [Magic Barrier] combine to create [Perfect Barrier]}

{Caster [Support Magic SP: Full Support] on Wielder Fran.}

Rani rapidly spent 426 Self-Evolution Points and Fran felt as even greater strength and knowledge flowed into her body.

Fran tightened her grip on Lumiose as three of the Legendary undead came charging towards her, consuming over 1000 MP to activate [Super Herculean Strength] and [Instantaneous Movement] at their full power for just two seconds, Fran charged forward to meet them, he body becoming nothing more than a blur to those around her.

The Legendary Undead in the front didn't have time to do anything more than raise its shield before Fran was on him, not that it did him any good at all.

"Uh…" The Lich was shocked as Fran swung Lumiose, wrapped in [Elemental Sword (Angelic Magic)], cutting straight through the entire orichalcum shield in a single swing, and cutting the zombie in half with it.

The Zombie's body dissolved from the power of the [Angelic Magic] surrounding the sword, leaving nothing behind but the Magic Stone, which was quickly grabbed by one of the metal threads coming from the sword on Fran's back before being absorbed to replace the Mana she had just spent.

Fran cut down the other two Zombies as well before the two seconds were up and her [Super Herculean Strength] and [Instantaneous Movement] wore off, before standing tall and glaring at the Lich. "Ask again. What did you do to Archer?" The tiny Black Catkin said, her voice promising a most painful death. The glowing steel threads forming behind her in such a way as to make her look like an Angel of Vengeance.

The Lich just stared in shock for a few moments before he began to laugh again. "Wonderful! Truly wonderful!" He shouted as he summoned still more minions. "You will be my greatest champion! My most powerful undead! So tire yourself out fighting against my minions! After all, I don't want to cause unnecessary damage to that body! Kufufahaha"

"Annoying." Fran said before readying herself to cut down more enemies. "Make you tell where Archer is."

* * *

Name: Fran

Age: 12

Race: Black Catkin

Job: Magus Killer (Lv37)

Status: Normal

Level: 41/45

HP: 853, MP: 804, STR: 547, END: 471, AGI: 526, INT: 451, MGC: 451, DEX: 457

Titles: Fire Mage, Lord of Cooking, Lord of Dismantling, Lord of Digging, Skill Collector, Incarnation of the Sword, Favored of the Goddess of Chaos, Cadet of Hell's Training, Lord of Climbing, Goblin Slayer, Insect Slayer, Demon Slayer, Dragon Slayer, Recovery Mage, Wind Mage, One Man Army, One Who Slaughters, Big Game Hunter, Skill Maniac, Earth Mage, Sandstorm Mage, Lava Mage, Lady Killer, Giant Slayer, Annihilator of Demonic Beasts, Bad Target for Ambush, Angel, (New) Undead Slayer, (New) Speed Demon, (New) Juggernaut, (New) King of Skills

Equipment: Nameless, Black Cat Set, Sword of Dreams: Lumiose

(Speed Demon: Awarded to one who has obtained the max level of [Instantaneous Movement]. Effect: +20 AGI)

(Juggernaut: Awarded to one who has obtained the max level of [Super Herculean Strength]. Effect: +20 STR)

(King of Skills: Awarded to one who possesses more than 250 skills. Effect: +5 to All stats, and skills grow even faster)

* * *

Race: Lich (Undead | Demonic beast | Dungeon Master)

Level: 71/75

Stats:

HP: 4863 MP: 7467 STR: 934 VIT: 737

AGI: 666 INT: 2369 MGC: 4312 DEX: 1207

Skills:

Incantation Shortening: Lv Max, Wind Magic: Lv 7, Appraisal Jamming: Lv 5, Dread: Lv 9, Fear: Lv 7, Regeneration: Lv Max, Space/Time Magic: Lv 7, Cursed Words: Lv 6, Instant Regeneration: Lv 4, Control Undead: Lv Max, Netherworld Magic: Lv 8, Necromancy Magic: Lv Max, Resistance to Mental Abnormalities: Lv 9, Life Detection: Lv 6, Life Drain: Lv 7, Water Magic: Lv Max, Greater Water Magic: Lv 3, Close Quarters Combat: Lv 7, Earth Magic: Lv Max, Greater Earth Magic: Lv 3, Mind Reading: Lv 4, Poison Magic: Lv 8, Fire Magic: Lv 6, Magic Detection: Lv 7, Mana Drain: Lv 7, Dark Magic: Lv 5, Ignore Incantation, Resistance to Abnormal Status, Undead Strengthening, Unsealable, Magic Manipulation

Unique Skills:

Miasma Absorption, Miasma Conversion, Anti-Appraisal Camouflage

Extra Skills

Greater Undead Summoning, Principle of an Element(Impurity)

Titles:

One who seeks revenge, One who bears many sins

Equipment:

Robe of Resentment

* * *

Just for reference about how stupid this makes Fran, here are Amanda's stats.

Name: Amanda

Age: 58

Race: Half-Elf

Job: Champion of Storms

Status: Normal

Level: 70/99

HP: 646, MP: 825, STR: 327, END: 293, AGI: 451, INT: 390, MGC: 423, DEX: 356

[Stat ↑ High] giving +100 is OP. Needs nerfs.

Though Awakening gives +800 AGI or something like that.


	46. Chapter 46

The minion Undead could not stand up to Fran as she charged forward, cutting them to ribbons in a single swing of Lumiose.

Archer's masterpiece was as close as one could get to becoming a Godblade without possessing Divine Energy of its own, and even the highest value weapons and armor that the Lich's Legendary Undead were equipped with couldn't stand up to it.

Once fully reinforced, it had a functional attack power of 22,000, and was costed in not just its own Moonlight Mana, but also the Divine Energy of Fran's Angelic Element.

That, combined with Fran's bursts of strength caused her to be able to cut through the Legendary Undead like butter. Between her new stat increases, the high level [Support Magic], Lumiose's [Moon Phase Empowerment], Fran's [Super Herculean Strength] and [Instantaneous Movement], and the [Undead Slayer] title, Fran could achieve nearly 5,000 STR and AGL. It was a stat level that fell just shy of the Moonlight Dragon higher stats during the new moon.

However, that power came at a price, a rather steep one, as the Mana cost of the [Support Magic] and things like [Super Herculean Strength] scaled in proportion to the strength of the user, not to mention that Fran was still not used to using the skills and was creating waste. In order to make full use of all of her buffs, and maintaining the [Perfect Barrier] and [Transformation] skills, Rani was burning through over 600 MP per second.

They could mitigate the cost by killing and absorbing more and more magic stones, but in order to last for 10 minutes, assuming they were only using their full power for half that time, Rani would need roughly 180,000 MP, roughly 25,000 Magic Stone Points or around 50 B-rank Magic Stones.

Luckily, that seemed to be completely possible. There were already 20 of them lying around, and 10 more were about to be added to that pile.

The supercharged B-rank Undead were stronger than a normal Adventurer could handle, but they were nothing more than bowling pins in front of Fran. They were knocked down appropriately enough as the tiny girl charged towards the Lich, cutting each and every one of the skeletons that got in her way down with a single swing, and with each kill she made, Rani would either absorb the stones right away to recover MP, or pocket them inside of their [Dimensional Storage] for later use.

The Lich sat in his throne, just watching as Fran blew through his forces and lunged to attack him. "[Divine Heavy Slash]!" Fran used the level 8 [Divine Sword Technique] skill, swinging Lumiose down in a two handed slash towards the Lich as the Dungeon Master sat comfortably in his chair.

The already damaged throne was reduced to pebbles as Lumiose smashed into it, even tearing up the ground below where the seat had been. But the Lich hadn't been in it.

The moment before the sword would have cut through the skeleton, he vanished from his seat, dodging the attack.

Fran was surprised, but could still feel the Lich's energy behind her. She twisted around as fast as she could, her arms shaking as they tried to reverse the momentum of the sword. Her bones cracked as she swung Lumiose at full force, straight through the Lich who had been standing behind her, trying to split him in two.

But even though the blade hadn't seemed to be blocked or dodged, it didn't connect. The attack went straight past the Lich without leaving a single scratch on him.

'Illusion?' Fran thought for a moment, though something didn't seem quite right. She had seen Art use illusions hundreds of times, but had always been able to see through them with her magic detection skills. But even though her detection skills were going off now, the flow of magical energy was different than with an illusion, and it was far more powerful.

Rani's metal threads quickly formed into a shield in front of Fran's stomach as the Lich took a swing at the girl, but the Lich's hand passed straight through the metal wall before becoming corporal and slamming into the girl's stomach.

No, that wasn't quite what happened.

The punch hadn't gone through the shield, it had bent around it.

Fran coughed blood as she was thrown backwards, she knew that she had just had a rib break and suffered severe damage to her stomach. Without Archer's armor, that punch would have likely killed her. Though her mind remained sharp, even through the pain, and she recovered midair using a [Air Jump] skill to kick off of a platform made of mana.

Her wounds were already being taken care of by Rani, so Fran stuck to focusing on the offensive. The Lich had already summoned up another ten magic using Undead, but Fran didn't even look at them. Her eyes were only on the Lich.

"Wider. Stronger. This Storm is ever Building. Ever Growing. This is a power that cannot be stopped!" Fran shouted as she called up a magic circle that was larger than her entire body. "Now strike them with all your might! [Thor's Hammer]!"

A roaring thunderbolt that looked to be over three feet thick erupted from the magic circle aimed directly at the Lich, only to turn 90 degrees in mid flight to smash into the ceiling. The noise from the impact shook the room as bits of the stone ceiling came falling down around the undead, each of them glowing red hot from the heat from the magic thunderbolt.

"Fufufu." The Lich chuckled as his minions started to erect magic barriers to shield themselves from the falling stones. "You really are a powerful little one, but that doesn't help you at all if you can't touch me."

Fran didn't have any time to respond as the Lich once again disappeared from sight, teleporting straight up in front of her. But Fran's senses were more focused this time and she understood what it was looking at. The Lich wasn't moving through space, he was moving the space itself.

Pushing herself as hard as she could, she read the flow of the Lich's [Time/Space Magic], and moved against it, escaping his punch using extreme speed. She then tried to counter with a thrust, but the Lich managed to bend the space in front of her swing in time so that her attack moved straight by. The exchange continued as such, with Fran reading the Lich's moves just in time to avoid his attacks using insane speed, while the Lich bent the space around Fran's own attacks so that they hit nothing. Rani also attempted to attack, with her whip like metal cords, but didn't have any more luck than Fran did.

While this was happening, Rani was running through every possible set of skills to explain what was going on.

At first, Rani was somewhat worried that Fran would destroy the Lich before Archer could finish his task. Rani couldn't tell her not to, or explain what was going on. Any information that Fran got would immediately be read from her mind and used against her. Not having an organic brain, the Lich could not read the sword's mind, but any telepathic conversation that Rani had with Fran would be overheard along with Fran's other thoughts.

Though as it turned out, the Lich was stronger than even she had suspected.

Being an A-rank Demonic Beast with access to a Dungeon Core, the Lich was tough. Even its weakest stats would be comparable to the highest ones of the other Undead, and it could enhance its own capabilities with the same Undead strengthening skills that it used on its minions. It could also increase its own speed and reflexes using [Time/Space Magic].

But what was truly absurd was its use of [Time/Space Magic]'s [Turn Arrow] as some kind of all purpose armor. Rani wasn't even sure how one was supposed to beat something like that. Any attack or skill that had to move through space couldn't reach him. Even unblockable things like [Skill Taker] had be to used within a certain distance. So long as he still had all that mana and wasn't caught off guard, the Lich was effectively invincible.

But how did he have enough mana to do that?

To bend the space needed to redirect an arrow for a moment, one needed to use a large amount of mana, but the Lich was using it like armor over his entire body, and using it almost all the time. The cost of such a thing should have been in the tens of thousands of MP every second. How was it even possible for the Lich to possess that much mana? Where was it all coming from?

Rani wasn't the only one asking such a question, though for Jean, the question extended to Fran as well.

How could any humanoid be this strong? Her speed and strength completely dwarfed even those who were at the peak of A-rank Adventurers, like Amanda. It could even be compared to the level of an S-rank Adventurer. Jean couldn't even keep track of her movements.

Jean had believed that a straightforward battle against the Lich was completely impossible… but was there actually a hope? Did Fran have a chance of winning?

...No. No she didn't. Not so long as the Miasma Generators remained intact.

In order to not show his hand, Jean had kept their existence from the rest of the party. He hadn't told them about the Miasma Generators which were producing a nearly endless supply of Miasma, which the Lich could convert into Mana with his [Miasma Conversion] skill.

So long as they kept going, the Lich would never run out of Mana, and if they were destroyed… then the entire floating island and the Dungeon would likely be destroyed with them. It was Jean's back up plan, how he would deal with things if nothing else was possible.

Stephon would soon destroy the generators, and then they would all die together.

Archer would be furious.

* * *

Archer's eyes scrolled over the listings of monsters, trying to find the singular one he was searching for. He didn't want to still be looking by the time Rani showed up for his evac. During that window when the both of them were inside of the Between World, Fran would be left severely weakened.

Archer couldn't afford for his matter to be left unattended.

"This stupid thing needs a sort function." The Servant growled, resisting the urge to punch through the screen.

"Well, it was never meant to be accessed from this side." An amused voice said from behind Archer.

The Servant's eyes widened and he whipped himself around to face whoever it was that snuck up on him, only to freeze mid trace as the woman stopped masking her presence. The silver haired beauty with sunkissed skin and silver eyes was smiling playfully at Archer as she watched him. Archer's neck started to sweat as the most powerful divine aura he had even seen started to roll off of the woman's body.

'...Fuuuuuuck...' Archer swore internally as he did his best to act casual. As if he wasn't a thief who had just been caught with his pants down. "Well, that just seems like a design oversight to me. Well ordered data on the system's side is important for maintaining any user friendly device."

"Well, I suppose it has been a few thousand years since I've updated my Dungeon Cores. I probably should consider giving them better security." The Goddess of Chaos giggled. "Though until you came along, no one had ever dared to try to actually 'hack' into one of my babies. It was quite entertaining to see you and the Spider going at it."

"Oh, so you were watching that then?" Archer said with a cheeky grin, in an attempt to hide his worry.

"Oh, we've all been watching you. It is the best entertainment we've had in a long time. Sitting down together to laugh at your misadventures is actually helping to keep the Smithing God and Love Goddess's failing marriage together." The Goddess said cheerfully. "I made it big in a bet with the Sun God over whether or not you would survive your encounter with the Spider."

"I'm glad to be of service." Archer said. He shifted ever so slightly as he struggled with the urge to turn back around and start trying to find Stephon's entry. "I don't suppose you would help me remove Stephon from the Dungeon's logs, would you?"

"Hm… I might." The Goddess of Chaos said with a short hum. "But, if I'm going to do this favor for you, I'm going to have to ask for something in return."

"...The number two most common killer of heroes is being given unreasonable tasks by their Patron Gods." Archer said with a tired sigh. He figured he had this Goddess's number down. She preferred people acting unique to subservient. If he groveled, it would probably just annoy her and cause her to lose interest.

"So you'll do it then?" The Goddess said, still all smiles. Archer just glumly nodded his head. "You don't need to worry. It's not really that unreasonable. I just want you to continue on your way to the city of Bulbola and stay there through the Lunar Festival. That's all you have to do?"

"I'm not even allowed to ask why, are I?"

"Nope." The Goddess replied, popping her 'p'. "Just be there and be yourselves and everything should work out explosively."

"...Alright. I'll do it. It isn't like I have much of a choice." Archer said with a nod of his head.

If he disobeyed, there was a good chance that the Goddess wouldn't just not help with Stephon, but would destroy him as well. She had just caught him red handed as he messed with one of her Divine Artifacts. It was only her cheerful personality that was saving him at the moment.

"Then it is a deal!" The Goddess of Chaos said before snapping her fingers. The interface started to light up, information flying by before stopping on Stephon's page. The screen went black as the related data was discarded and Stephon was released from his role as a Dungeon Monster. "Oh, by the way, I'm going to be taking away that [Dungeon Core Manipulation] skill of yours. No hard feelings, but I can't have people messing with my Dungeon Cores. But don't worry, I'll give you something good to make up for it. A little skill made by one of our mutual friends."

"A mutual friend?" Archer said, not having a clue what the Goddess was talking back.

"Anyways, I'll be gone now. See ya!" She said with a beautiful smile, before fading into nothing.

"...What an odd Divine." Archer said, trying his best not to give a sigh of relief.

Now he just had to wait for Rani to turn up to retrieve him… he hoped the girls were doing alright.

* * *

Art didn't know what to do.

She, a proud Demoness, was standing on the sidelines in a battle that was simply out of her league, watching her master and best friend risk her life, while Art herself was powerless to help her. She hated it so much that tears formed in her eyes as she clenched her teeth so hard she tasted blood.

Archer and Fran had always been better fighters than she had been. She was perfectly aware that she was the baby sister of their little family, but never before had she simply been unable to do anything to even try to help.

She hated feeling so helpless. She wished that she was stronger. Strong enough to fight alongside Fran. She swore to herself that if they… when they got out of this, she would do whatever it took to become strong enough to fight alongside her friend.

Art let out a gasp when after several seconds of dodging each other's attacks, she saw one of the Lich's punches land on Fran's face. Though as the girl spun shifted away and regained her footing, she turned back to the Lich, standing tall, without so much as a bruise on her face, before spitting something out to the side.

At first, Art was afraid that Fran had lost some of her teeth, but the white shards that hit the floor of the chamber weren't teeth, but bones.

"Way to go Fran." Art said as she realized what had just happened.

The Lich lifted up the hand that he had used to strike Fran's face to find that two of the fingers were missing. In order for the punch to connect, the Lich couldn't use his spatial barrier over his hands, so Fran targeted that hand the moment he went in for a strike.

"You certainly are a vicious little girl. More like a Demonic Beast than an Adventurer. That was [Furious Demon Fang], wasn't it? How does a child like you know [Divine Fang Techniques]?"

Fran didn't respond, she just watched as the Lich's fingers regrew before her eyes.

[Instantaneous Regeneration].

Not only was the bastard hard as hell to pin down, but unless it was an instantly lethal blow, he would just recover from it anyways. How were they supposed to win?

"If only mom was here." Art said, as the Lich started to laugh again. Then, Art noticed something, the last group of Legendary Undead were still around, and they had been working on something. (Fran, the minions!) Art shouted through their mental connection.

The ten Legendary Undead had all formed a giant magic circle between them, into which they were all performing a joint spell. The Lich noticed Art's mental warming, but just laughed. "You're too late!" He shouted as the newest summoning circle poured out an intense black aura.

Out of the circle crawled a massive creature, whose head was more than thirty feet off the ground, or rather, its heads. Three large heads, a lion, a goat and a dragon, each the size of a wagon sat on top of the monster's shoulders. Patches of its fur and scales were missing, revealing the rotting flesh underneath. All over its body, ruins from the Overloading magic glowed, boosting the monster's strength.

"Now young Adventurer, let us see how you fare against my Zombie Chimera! Fuhahaha!" The Lich laughed as he moved out of the way, leaving Fran to face the newest undead.

"Nn." Fran just scoffed and raised her sword. "In the way. Get out."

She was answered by a trio of roars that shook the room as fire started to glow within the throats of the monster.

"So be it."

* * *

Undead Chimera Lv 67/75

Race: Hybrid-Beast (World Lion | Thunder Ram | Typhoon Dragon) (Demonic Beast)

Status: Overloaded

HP: 20813, MP: 12404, STR: 6640, END: 6723

AGI: 5052, INT: 36, MGC: 5908, DEX: 4028

Skills:

Wind Magic LvMax, Fire Magic LvMax, Gale Magic Lv8, Flame Magic Lv7, Lightning Magic Lv9, Earth Magic Lv9, Water Magic Lv8, Herculean Strength Lv7, Harden Skin LvMax, Diamond Skin Lv5, Flash Step Lv6, Claw Techniques LvMax, Claw Arts LvMax, Divine Claw Techniques Lv3, Divine Claw Arts Lv4, Fang Techniques LvMax, Fang Arts LvMax, Divine Fang Techniques Lv3, Divine Fang Arts Lv4, Abnormal Status Resistance LvMax, Regeneration LvMax, Instantaneous Regeneration Lv9, Automatic MP Recovery, Automatic HP Recovery

Innate Skill:

Dragon Arts Lv4, Three Heads, Demonic Poison Fang

Description:

This Ancient Chimera was born from the bodies of three separate A-rank Demonic Beasts fused together through Alchemy into one monstrous existence, this creature dead after running wild and destroying much of the country that had attempted to create it before being put down. Now resurrected by powerful necromancy, it will not die again easy.

Magic Stone Location: Chest

* * *

**I ran the numbers, and assuming that no more Undead are summoned and all the current Magic Stones on the field were absorbed (Including the Lich) Archer/Rani would reach Rank 30 at the end of this fight.**

**Compared to in canon where Shishou was Rank 15 after fighting against the army of 10,000 Demonic Beasts. Something that really should have grown him more ranks. Even assuming they were all only just G-rank stones worth 1 point a piece, they would still have grown Shishou up to Rank 19 from Rank 13. But there he goes, not absorbing stones from a giant army because he doesn't want to have to explain where all the stones went later. (Fucking idiot)**

* * *

**Challenge: (Fate/Extra x Rise of the Shield Hero): Three Heroes and Their Master**

**After the Mooncell's Holy Grail War ****Hakuno is summoned to the world of Rise of the Shield Hero, along side her three servants from the three separate time lines, to become the wielders of the Legendary Weapons (Hakuno appearing to just be dragged along for the ride). **

**So Saber(Nero) is the Sword Hero, Archer(NAMELESS) is the Bow Hero, Caster(Tamamo) is the Shield Hero.**

**It should be noted that in Rise of the Shield Hero canon, spirits don't gain EXP. So they wouldn't be effected by the rules that would cause them to compete for EXP bonuses.**


	47. Spoiler Outline

**Mega spoiler warning for this story.**

**Mega spoiler warning for this story.**

**Mega spoiler warning for this story.**

**Mega spoiler warning for this story.**

**Mega spoiler warning for this story.**

**Mega spoiler warning for this story.**

**Mega spoiler warning for this story.**

I am writing out this outline in hopes that it will help motivate me to continue writing, like it did with the Hitman Reborn story, as I have just not been writing as of late. (Even that black clover thing was just a year old one shot I never posted.) I'd also like feedback on a few diverging paths from people familiar with the franchise and who don't mind so much having the story spoiled for them.

* * *

**Chapter 47:**

-Fran fights with the Undead Chimera with the help of Art's illusion magic until the undead uses a giant AOE attack, requiring Fran to defend Art and Jean.

-In order to save them, Fran uses up all of the mana inside of Lumiuse to kill the Chimera, causing her to lose all of the bonuses provided by the sword.

-The Lich then reveals that he had been reading Fran's mind and won't be summoning any more minions, so Fran and Rani can't recover their Mana anymore.

-With Fran having already reached level 45 from the B-rank undead, Art gained all of the EXP from the Chimera, causing her to level up to the point of evolving to the B-rank, increasing all her stats by 300% and increasing the level of her [Chaos Magic]. It also increases her Unique Skill, [Predation Absorption].

**Chapter 48:**

-Fran and Art do battle with the Lich using [Chaos Magic: Disrupt Magic] in order to cancel out his [Time/Space Magic].

-They are still struggling due to the Lich's ability to read minds and sense Art's lifeforce through her illusions.

-Art uses her higher level [Predation Absorption] skill to eat the fingers that Fran bit off earlier in the fight. This causes Art to gain resistances against the Lich's skills. Making her immune to mind reading and letting her hide her lifeforce. It also give her a [Detect Undead] skill. This is how the skill worked in canon with the wolf gaining [Detect Evil] and [Resist Evil] after eating part of the Evil God's Avatar.

-The tide of battle turns in Fran and Art's favor, with Art creating holes to let Fran use her [Skill Taker] to start stripping the Lich of his skills.

-Panicking, the Lich starts to expend more mana than Art can dispel to force Fran to keep her distance, stopping her from stealing his remaining high level skills.

-Stephon destroys the generators.

-In a rage that everything is falling apart, the Lich turns his attention to Jean, who is the obvious mastermind.

-Stephon arrives to save Jean.

**Chapter 49:**

-Stepton talks to the Lich, revealing that he was made to absorb part of the Lich's spirit in order to live out the Lich's dream of being an Adventurer.

-Stepton tries to talk the Lich down, saying that they could pass on together and reunite with their friends in the after life.

-The Lich almost takes the offer, but instead [Principle of an Element (Impurity)] kicks in and the Lich goes berserk, declaring that he would never give up on his vengeance.

-The Lich starts to use his skills to absorb all of the Miasma in the entire dungeon, causing him to start to level up.

-Archer returns (and uses [Doppelganger Synthesis] to create 5 copies of Fran and 5 Noble Phantasms for them to wield).

-Fran steals the last of the Skills that she could before they attacked the Lich directly, cutting his body to pieces with the Noble Phantasms that prevent regeneration.

-Before the Lich dies, he absorbs enough miasma for him to reach his max level and the Lich evolves to S-rank (The Lifeless King), causing him to regenerate completely and gain a divine aura. This also increases all of its stats by 300% at least. (or I might rebalance them for the evolution to be a sword fighter rather than just a magic user.)

This is enough of a reveal for now as I am unsure of what I am going to do for the reminder of the battle.

* * *

Diverging paths time.

1\. Stephon is absorbed by the Lich, causing the Lich to develop [Principle of an Element (Purity)] as Stephon weakens the Lich from the inside, cutting off his divine aura in order to make him vulnerable to their attacks. (This results in Archer not absorbing the Lich's stone and instead creating a Godblade from it. "The Guiding Hand: Stephon")

2\. Jean sees the Lich trying to corrupt Stephon's soul and martyrs himself in order to save Stephon's soul, sacrificing his life, mind and soul to the Netherworld God, becoming the God's Avatar until the end of the fight. (This results in Stephon joining Fran and Art after everything is done. With a really sad scene where the dying Jean smiles at Stephon, telling him that a good Necromancer always sees a soul off with a smile and never lets a corpse go to waste. Stephon eats Jean's body off screen before walking out, blood dripping from his mouth and with tears flowing from the eyes that had once been Jeans as he forces a smile.)

3\. Fenrir starts to wake up within the sword because of the rapid ranking up and the presence of S-rank prey. Fenrir lends them divine power strong enough to cut through the Lich's own divine aura, allowing Fran to kill the Lich without Stephon or Jean's help. (This results in Stephon and Jean both getting to live together. ...Happy ending... Yay. I suppose Jean might tell Stephon to adventure with Fran while he is doing his other work.)

I'm also undecided as to whether to include the Seedron Rebellion from the Light Novel or just keep the Web Novel version of the sea trip and skip it.

On one hand, there are two adult princesses for Archer to meet and an entire kingdom for them to fuck with, on the other hand it isn't much of a threat. They would basically steamroll over it until I gave the enemies the same kind of buffing treatment I am giving the Lich. Increase them from having a single A rank fighter to having 4 or 5 of them.

* * *

Regardless what path I choose, I am planning on having Archer lose all of his Magic Stone Points soon, in order to reforge the sword after the damage caused to the sword by rapid Rank Up. This will boost the swords stats by about 50% at the cost of memory slots, like it does in canon, and also drains their Magic Stone Points to 0. So he will still be at Rank 29~31, but he will not grow any more ranks until he fills it all the way back up from scratch. Meaning his power won't be increasing for a while.

…Though considering he is going to have something like 2000 Attack, 30,000 Mana, a magic conductivity of SS+ and some remaining Evolution Points, he doesn't really need more Ranks right now.


End file.
